Genesis I

December 1911 – January 1912

The first Blue Rider exhibition

Several of Marc's works are shown at the first Blue Rider exhibition at the Thannhauser Galleries in Munich, which has been called the apex of German Expressionism.

1912

The Blue Rider exhibition tours Germany

The exhibition travels to Berlin, Cologne, Hagen and Frankfurt; in Berlin the gallery owner Herwarth Walden shows Marc alongside Paul Klee, Alfred Kubin and Alexej von Jawlensky, and in 1912 the collection is also shown in Wuppertal.

1913

Married: Maria Marc

1914

Called up at the start of the First World War

At the outbreak of war in 1914 Marc, like August Macke, is mobilised and sent to the front; early biographers thought he had volunteered, but conscription was practically impossible to avoid.

4 March 1916

Killed at Verdun

Marc is on a list of notable artists the government meant to withdraw from combat for their own safety, but the reassignment order does not reach him in time: at the Battle of Verdun a shell splinter strikes him in the head. Some accounts say he died instantly, others that he was mortally wounded.

4 maart 1916

Died