Red Woman by Franz Marc

Oil, 1912.

Red Woman

Additional images for this work

Art work details

Original Title :
Rote Frau
Year of production :
1912
Artist:
Franz Marc
Medium :
Oil painting
Materials:
Oil paint, Canvas
Dimensions :
height: 100.5 cms; width: 70 cms
Credit Line :
Purchased in 1944
Associated Groups :
Der Blaue Reiter
Tags:
Nudity, Red, Marc

Red Woman was one of Marc’s last paintings containing the human figure and reflects the humanistic idea of man’s interrelationship with nature. A ‘primitive’ woman, untouched by the corrupting influence of civilisation, is harmoniously absorbed into a strangely patterned two-dimensional background.

Marc uses colours emotively and symbolically to evoke a paradisiacal setting. The intense red of the woman’s body represents ‘matter, brutal and heavy’, a colour he believed had to be opposed by blue, ‘severe and spiritual’ and yellow, ‘gentle, happy and sensual.’


The additional images show a 1944 letter sent to Mr Hess from Leicester Museums regarding the acquisition of The Red Woman and other artwork. Also shown is a 1959 Leicester Mercury article 'Picture of the Month'. The article calls The Red Woman 'The Girl With Black Hair'.

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