Franz Marc was a key figure of the German Expressionist movement. His distinctive style was heavily influenced the cubism and the futuristic and his work had a huge impact on post First World War expressionism. Together with Kandinsky he found Der Blau Reiter, with the goal to overcome the toxic state of the world through art. He was drafted into the German army at the beginning of the First World War and died from shrapnel wounds at the Battle of Verdun in 1916.