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 Tower of Blue Horses Postcard
This small painted postcard is Marc's surviving colour study for The Tower of Blue Horses. The Bavarian State Painting Collections catalogue it as Der Turm der blauen Pferde, dated 1912, in ink and opaque colour on card, measuring 14.1 × 9.4 cm (inventory 13550). Its image is the same composition that appeared on this page before the refreshed reproduction was installed. The Pinakothek states that Marc sent the postcard to the poet Else Lasker-Schüler on New Year's Day 1913. [1] [2]
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Watch on YouTubeA tower on a postcard
Four blue horse heads and bodies rise through the narrow sheet. At the bottom, a large head turns down; above it, another presses inward; at the top, two heads draw together. Dark blue contours separate the horses while also linking them into one climbing shape. Pale ground remains visible around the edges and between the bodies. A small crescent and star marks appear above the group. The vertical arrangement gives this tiny card an unusual sense of height.
The brushwork looks quick, with blue washes, darker strokes and unpainted card all still visible. This is a working image, not a miniature reproduction of the lost oil painting. It offers direct evidence of Marc's colour and stacking idea, but it cannot settle the final canvas's surface, scale or every detail. That difference matters especially because the large painting disappeared after Nazi confiscation in 1937 and has been considered lost since the end of the Second World War. [2]
The collection acquired the postcard in 1964 as a gift from Sofie and Emanuel Fohn. The collection's 1912 date and the documented New Year's Day 1913 mailing can be read together without converting the postal date into a certain production date. See The Tower of Blue Horses for the larger painting's history. [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 surviving painted postcard offers a direct but limited view of Marc’s tower idea.
Reader Insights
Observation
How do the blue contours connect one horse to the next?
Comparison
What can this small card show that photographs of the lost canvas cannot?
Interpretation
Where should we stop short of treating the study as a record of the finished painting?
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, object record. View source.
- Pinakothek, exhibition account. 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, Der Turm der blauen Pferde, painted postcard study dated 1912, ink and opaque colour on card, 14.1 × 9.4 cm. Image: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inventory 13550, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized without crop or colour change. This displayed derivative is offered under the same licence. Object record.
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