Color Theories

By NAYOUNG KWON

Born in Germany, Franz Marc became an iconic figure during WWI, for his courageous actions in the battlefield. Not only he successfully gained honor in the war, he was famous for his bright, and colorful paintings. Over the years of his art career he developed his own code to portray his emotions and thoughts through color. The color blue is used to portray masculinity while the color Yellow was to show feminine, joy, and softness, and finally red portrayed the blocking the sound of violence. These three primary colors are simple yet at the same creates an odd but sad feeling when looking at his works.

When looking at most of Franz Marc's paintings he uses mostly blue, to show the masculinity within himself, and the expectations from the society that he has to bare. The animals that he paints could mean that he's comparing the humans with wild animals that are experiencing the same emotions and violence. That us humans are nothing more than animals and we don't have the choice but to live with it. In The Yellow Cow, yellow it portrays femininity but it also shows unsuitability. The cow in the painting moves freely but it looks as if its running from something. The bright color combination of red, blue, and green sets off as a background while creating a focal point of yellow. The urge to escape from noises of violence, and masculinity that he has dealt with portrays in the cow running through the fields -- just like Franz Marc.