Art: Gentle Expressionist

Oberleutnant Franz Marc, artillery observer in the Kaiser's Fifth Army, stood tall, handsome and sad one day in early March 1916 in a hush of the great battle for Verdun. "One chews constantly," he had written his wife, "on that ever more baffling riddle: how this war is possible." He had spoken of living on three levels: soldierly, meditative and creative. Soldiering was to him "a complete dream act." Meditating was "perhaps closer to true experience." Creating was "an unconscious growing and going towards a goal, the sprouting of art ... a seed that...

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