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Fighting Cows

Franz Marc German
1911
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
A founding member, with Vasily Kandinsky, of the avant-garde group Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider"), Marc depicted animals vividly and ascribed spiritual states to them using color symbolism. Here, a red and blue cow lock horns as two more, one red and one green, prepare to enter the fight. For Marc, red represented earthliness, blue masculinity and spirituality, and yellow femininity and sensuality. Green, as the combination of yellow and blue and complementary color of red, symbolized the struggle between the material and spiritual worlds. The circular formation of the animals creates a sense of rhythm, and the yellow highlights on the ground further intensify the composition.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Fighting Cows
  • Artist: Franz Marc (German, 1880–1916)
  • Date: 1911
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 32 11/16 × 53 1/8 in. (83 × 135 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Lent by Private collection, New York
  • Object Number: L.2014.64.3
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art