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 The Shepherds
Two pale figures rest close to a blue horse in Franz Marc’s The Shepherds. One sits with knees drawn up at the left, while the other lies across the foreground. A brown cow stands beyond them. The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza identifies the painting as a 1912 oil on canvas, 100 × 135 cm, in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne, inventory L 1728. It is a rare Marc composition in which human bodies share the central space with animals. [1]
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Watch on YouTubeFigures and animals together
The horse’s lowered head points toward the reclining figure. Its dark outline and deep blue body occupy the right edge, counterbalancing the two nearly white bodies. The cow forms a long brown band across the upper left. Between them, green planes and small white marks break up the hillside. The figures are easy to find, but the shapes of their limbs and the slope become part of the same rhythm as the animals’ backs and necks. [1] [2]
The title suggests a pastoral scene, yet Marc gives no staff, flock of sheep or detailed account of work. The resting bodies make the human and animal group feel sheltered within the landscape. That is a reading of the visible arrangement, rather than a claim that the figures are specific people. The nearby brown cow and blue horse differ in colour and posture, but both help hold the composition around the human pair.
In Marc’s work of 1912
The Thyssen-Bornemisza museum places The Shepherds beside Marc’s 1912 The Waterfall and The Dream when discussing his treatment of figures and animals. Its account notes a particular similarity between the female figure and horse here and those in The Dream. Comparing the paintings shows how Marc moved a related pairing between a calm, horizontal scene and a more dreamlike one. [3] [1]
For another composition that brings figures into a Marc landscape, see The Waterfall. The present image is a public-domain faithful reproduction; its colour is preserved from the identified source file rather than adjusted to match another digital display. [2]
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
Marc places two human figures among a blue horse, a brown cow and broad green slopes.
Reader Insights
Observation
Which shape leads your eye from the reclining figure toward the horse?
Comparison
How does the relation between people and animals change in The Dream?
Interpretation
What makes this group feel sheltered within the landscape?
Join the Conversation
Which detail changed the way you saw this work? Share a close observation or a comparison with another Marc picture.
References
- Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Open Windows 8, fig. 9. View source.
- public-domain image file. View source.
- Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, The Dream. 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, Die Hirten (The Shepherds), 1912, oil on canvas, 100 × 135 cm. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, L 1728. Public-domain faithful reproduction from Wikimedia Commons. Image file and rights.
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