Deer in the Forest, 1914 by Franz Marc

A summation of Franz Marc's the deer theme is Deer in the Forest, 1914. Amidst and integrated with the form of the deer is a panoply of force lines and transparent planes; an underlying organization of these exists in the pattern of parallel diagonals moving downward from the right and left edge, meeting in the middle. A secondary pattern exists in the rectilinear planes of color on the left opposing circular patterns on the right. while a blue mountain is absent, a smaller triangle encloses two of the deer; it and the blue tree at the left edge provide an uplifting quality. Contrasting the blue is the intense red throughout the center of the picture, oranges at top and bottom, and the feathery black in the upper right.

The all-over organization of the canvas uniting animal to landscape, diminishes the heroism of the animal subject as depicted by Marc in 1911. Supporting Marc's latest conception of the world was Wilhelm Ostwald's theory of energy, in which matter is considered illusory. Only energy lines reveal appearance such as it is. In Deer in the Forest, 1914, this conception results in an energized atmosphere of randomness and chaos. the sense of an inchoate environment demonstrates both Marc's feeling of the world as a whole and his developing urge to represent Creation, and aspiration that is present in the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee.