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 Two Horses Red and Blue
This page shows the paired horses in Marc's 1912 work commonly called Zwei Pferde rot und blau (Two Horses, Red and Blue). The Rhode Island School of Design Museum catalogues it as Two Horses, 1912, watercolour and gouache on paper mounted on board, with a sheet measuring 44.5 × 38.1 cm (38.140). The museum's public-domain image matches the former illustration on this page. [1]
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Watch on YouTubeA vertical pair
A red horse bends forward in the foreground. Its head points toward the lower right and its rounded back fills the lower centre. Behind it, a blue horse raises its long neck and turns its pale muzzle leftward. Their bodies overlap in a steep composition, with a dark diagonal cutting between them. Yellow rays slope down from the upper right; a crescent and small star shapes appear in the pale upper field. The surrounding blue, green, black and orange areas are as active as the animals.
The pair is easy to describe as red and blue, yet neither animal is a flat block of one colour. The front horse shifts through red, violet, white and yellow; the rear horse has both deep blue and a pale face. Colour helps distinguish the two bodies, while the same angled marks carry across horse and background. The RISD Museum's interpretation connects the horses to their setting through these interlocking planes, an observation that can be tested by following the black diagonal from the centre to the edges. [1]
This 1912 sheet is distinct from Marc's 1913 Two Horses, where two pale horses press together inside a broken blue landscape. Its close vertical pairing also differs from the more open red group in Large Red Horses. The museum accession number helps keep these similarly named works separate. [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
Red and blue help distinguish the horses while the same angled forms run through the setting.
Reader Insights
Observation
Which dark diagonal most clearly divides the two bodies?
Comparison
How is this vertical pair arranged differently from the 1913 Two Horses sheet?
Interpretation
Where do the horses and their surroundings begin to share one shape?
Join the Conversation
Which detail changed the way you saw this work? Share a close observation or a comparison with another Marc picture.
References
- RISD Museum, object 38.140. 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, Two Horses (Two Horses, Red and Blue), 1912, watercolour and gouache on paper mounted on board, sheet 44.5 × 38.1 cm. RISD Museum, 38.140. CC0 1.0 museum image, retained at native width. Object record.
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