The Fate of the Animals
1913 · Oil on canvas · Kunstmuseum Basel
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About this work
- Artist
- Franz Marc (1880–1916)
- Year
- 1913
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 196 × 266 cm
- Collection
- Kunstmuseum Basel
- Movement
- Expressionism
A forest is torn apart by red, green and blue shafts that cut diagonally across the canvas like falling trees or beams of fire; caught among them are animals, a blue deer raising its head at the centre, green horses at upper left, a pair of boars at lower left and a group of foxes or wolves at right. The right-hand third is noticeably duller, in muted browns. Marc painted it in 1913 under the title The Trees Show Their Rings, the Animals Their Veins, and wrote on the back, in German, And all being is flaming suffering. In 1916, after his death at Verdun, the canvas was badly damaged by fire in storage, and his friend Paul Klee repainted the burned section from photographs, deliberately in subdued tones; the present title is also due to Klee. The Kunstmuseum Basel bought the painting in 1939.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A forest torn by shafts of red, green and blue with a blue deer at its heart, for a study, library or large living room wall at 32×24 in black. A charcoal, deep green or white wall; it pairs with Fighting Forms.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Expressionism painting
- Era
- 20th century (1913)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 32×24. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Fate of the Animals in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Fate of the Animals painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
