Horses in Landscape
painting by Franz Marc
Horses in Landscape is a watercolour with pencil on paper by the German painter Franz Marc, executed in 1911. It is probably a study, which was thought to be lost, for the painting Blue Horses (1911). The painting became known worldwide on the occasion of the Schwabing art discovery in November 2013. It was one of the first eleven works to be shown at a press conference by the Augsburg public prosecutor. The small-format work measures 12.1 × 19.6 cm.
Description
The three horses in the study, painted in a sideways position or from behind, are brown-blue in colour. They stand with their heads bowed to the left, in front of a mountainous landscape, which is vaulted by a sky with white clouds. The outlines of the horses reflect the mountains. The two knotless, white tree trunks in the foreground and background, which look like a diagonal, are striking. The front trunk is touched by the horse in the foreground.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Horses in Landscape” as painting by Franz Marc. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as painting by Franz Marc. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 31, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15428759. VIAF identifies the subject as 288298993. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1911 and 2013.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Horses in Landscape”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Horses in Landscape primary sources, Horses in Landscape archive and Horses research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Horses in Landscape”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Horses in Landscape” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.