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 Small Horse Study II
A brown horse stands in a stable-like setting, surrounded by quick strokes of ochre, cream and dark paint. Franz Marc made Small Horse Study II (Kleine Pferdestudie II) in 1905, years before the monumental blue horses. The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen records it as a small work on cardboard with a picture area of 15.5 × 24 cm, inventory 14964. At that scale, the immediacy of the strokes is part of its character. [1]
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Watch on YouTubeLooking at a study
The animal is shown side-on, its darker body brought forward by pale marks around it. Parts of the setting remain rapidly indicated rather than fully finished. Marc had not yet made colour the overt subject it would become in Blue Horse I of 1911. The early study is about the weight and stance of a particular horse and the way its shape can be built in a few confident marks. A “study” label describes its scale and working quality, but does not make it disposable or merely a fragment of a later canvas. [1] [2]
The Roman numeral in the museum title matters. Other small horse studies by Marc survive, and their titles are easy to collapse in English. This page concerns the horizontal 1905 Kleine Pferdestudie II, accession 14964, rather than assuming every image called “Small Horse Study” shows the same sheet. The owning institution gives its material as cardboard and lists it in the painting department. That is a safer identification than guessing the oil or tempera technique from a small web image alone. [1]
The collection says it acquired the study in 1985 from Maria Marc's estate for the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel. That note ties the small work to the preservation of Marc's studio legacy without requiring an invented chain of earlier owners. The page image can lead back to the owning collection's record for the exact title, date, dimensions and credit. [1]
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
The brown horse stands among quick, earthy strokes in this early study.
Reader Insights
Observation
Which parts of the horse receive the closest attention?
Comparison
How does this 1905 work differ from the later Little Blue Horse?
Interpretation
What signs of a working study can you see?
Join the Conversation
Which detail changed the way you saw this work? Share a close observation or a comparison with another Marc picture.
References
- Bavarian State Painting Collections, Kleine Pferdestudie II. View source.
- Lenbachhaus, Blue Horse I. 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, Small Horse Study II, 1905, work on cardboard. Image: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, 14964, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized without crop or colour adjustment; derivative shared under the same licence.
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