Genesis II (1914): Art, History and Details

Genesis II (1914) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Franz Marc (German, 1880–1916).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Like other members of Der Blaue Reiter in Munich, Franz Marc focused on depicting animals, which symbolized joyous rebirth. Genesis II was made to illustrate the creation story in the book of Genesis; he planned to include it in an illustrated Bible. Here, three horses emerge from a background of chaos and movement. His Tiger is less joyous and more threatening than the bounding horses; with clenched teeth, the tiger leers toward a cowering animal behind it. After enthusiastically enlisting in the German army, Marc died in battle at Verdun, France, on March 4, 1916. His wartime death—and that of fellow artist August Macke—had a profound impact on the Munich Expressionists, whose vision of an earthly paradise quickly dissolved.

Object facts

• Title: Genesis II
• Date: 1914
• Creator attribution: Franz Marc (German, 1880–1916)
• Culture: Germany, 20th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodcut
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.228

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• Peters, Emily J. "Graphic Discontent: The German Expressionists strove for spontaneity and unexpected results.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58. no. 1 (January/February 2018): Cover, 5-7, 22.
• Ellcock, Stephen. The Book of Change: Images to Inspire Revelations and Revolutions. London: September Publishing, 2021.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.