The Zoo and Art
The journey towards modern art was equally a journey outdoors - out of the academic studios and into the meadows and fields, to set up the easel in the open countryside and work in direct sunlight.
Another important place in the development of art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the zoo. Many artists were fascinated by the undisguised natural behaviour of animals. Franz Marc made extensive studies in the Berlin zoo for his famous depictions of animals; for his artist friend August Macke, it was the zoo in Cologne. Max Slevogt's "Parrot Man" is a portrait of a bird keeper at Frankfurt Zoo; Max Liebermann's version of the same theme, which can be admired at the Folkwang Museum in Essen shortly afterwards, was probably of a colleague at Amsterdam Zoo.
We learn from this that a zoo is a place of art. And that was valid then, and it is still valid today. If you have the time and leisure to visit the zoo, pay attention: Time and again, you will see artists in the audience, armed with sketchpads, looking for motifs.
