by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 17, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Looking at Fabulous Beast II
Fabulous Beast II (Horse) (Fabeltier II (Pferd)) is a small tempera work on card, approximately 26 × 30 cm, associated with 1913 in the work records. Sotheby’s catalogued this exact image in 2007; its title identifies a horse, even though the animal is partly absorbed by sharp colour planes. It must be kept separate from Small Fabulous Beast II, a different work on the reverse of a postcard. [1] [2] [3]
Watch: Franz Marc
Explore Marc’s blue horses, the Blue Rider circle and the move towards abstraction in English-language videos.
Franz Marc, Blue Horses and Der Blaue Reiter
An English-language introduction to Marc’s blue horses, animals, spirituality and the Blue Rider.
Watch on YouTubeFinding the horse
A pale muzzle drops at the left, beneath a dark curved back. Angled red, orange, blue and green forms pass through and around the body. Near the lower edge, a dark diagonal crosses a bright patch that could first read as part of the landscape. The picture rewards a second look: once the horse is found, the surrounding colours become less like a background and more like a structure sharing its movement. [2]
Sotheby’s relates the work to Marc’s interest in new ways of organising colour and form after encounters with Futurism and Robert Delaunay. That context helps explain the angled construction, but the image itself still holds a legible animal. Its small card support also changes how it should be approached beside a large canvas such as The Fate of the Animals: compression and close looking matter more here than monumental scale. [1]
The Commons file’s structured collection field and Sotheby’s private-ownership history do not agree about present custody. Neither is used here as a current-owner statement. The visual identity, material and historical catalogue record are the firm anchors for this page.
Artwork Directory
This source-checked selection contains 192 identified works and print designs from the current Franz Marc research set. It is a curated selection, not a complete catalogue raisonné. Some works link to their article here; others link to a collection record. Unresolved identifications are omitted.
Discussion
A horse emerges only gradually from the angled colour planes.
Reader Insights
Observation
Which pale edge first reveals the horse’s head to you?
Comparison
How does this small card work differ from a large animal canvas?
Interpretation
Where does the animal seem to merge with its surroundings?
Join the Conversation
Which detail changed the way you saw this work? Share a close observation or a comparison with another Marc picture.
References
- Sotheby’s, lot 24. View source.
- Commons exact file. View source.
- Sotheby’s, separate small beast. View source.
- Related artwork image, Yellow Cow: Photograph by Dr. Alexey Yakovlev; resized without crop or colour change, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- Splash image: Franz Marc, Fabeltier II (Pferd), circa 1913, tempera on card, approximately 26 × 30 cm. Public-domain reproduction from Wikimedia Commons, resized without crop or colour change. Image file and rights.
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