Collection

The Franz Marc Museum establishes a unique connection between art, nature and history. Its collection traces the development of German avant-garde art from the period before the First World War to the abstract art of post-war modernism. Originally devoted solely to the work of Franz Marc and the »Blue Rider« group, the collection adopted a new profile with the completion of the new building in 2008, expanding to include key aspects of »Brücke« Expressionism and German post-war abstract art.

The collection originated from the commitment of art collector Rudolf Ibach, who had already amassed a collection of Expressionist art as early as the 1920s. Over the following decades his daughter, Etta, and her husband, Munich gallery owner Otto Stangl, continued to build the collection. Today it includes several hundred works by Franz Marc, among them important paintings, drawings and sketches, and provides profound insights into his artistic oeuvre. Outstanding works including Large Landscape I (1910), Leaping Horse (1912), Red Deer II (1912) and the monumental Donkey Frieze (1912) impressively demonstrate the wide range of styles and themes in Marc’s work.

Works on paper are a particular focus of the collection; Franz Marc’s initial sketch for Tower of Blue Horses, colourful woodcuts by Erich Heckel, impetuous drawings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, delicate watercolours by Oskar Kokoschka and expressive ink drawings by Ludwig Meidner all serve to deepen our understanding of Expressionism. The collection is supplemented by works by Wassily Kandinsky, August Macke, Gabriele Münter, Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Paula Modersohn-Becker.

The collection is continuously expanded with the addition of loans and donations from private collectors, retaining its freshness and vitality. It tells the story of modernism in Germany, but also constantly throws new light on the artistic heritage of the twentieth century.

The Franz Marc Museum also owns major works of post-war abstract art, foremost among them an assembly of works by the ZEN 49 Group, which was founded in 1949 in Galerie Stangl, Munich. The group’s founder members included Willi Baumeister, Rolf Cavael, Gerhard Fietz, Rupprecht Geiger, Willi Hempel, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff and Fritz Winter.

Exhibitions often featured illustrious guest lists, with names including Max Ackermann, Julius Bissier, Karl Otto Götz, Hans Hartung, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Emil Schumacher, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Pierre Soulages, Fred Thieler, Theodor Werner and Serge Poliakoff. All these artists are represented at the Franz Marc Museum with paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolours or prints. A particularly noteworthy part of the collection is an extensive group of works by Fritz Winter including two paintings from his Driving Forces of the Earth series, numerous works by Willi Baumeister and Serge Poliakoff and two large-format paintings by Pierre Soulages.