Marc's strong ties with animals as his subjects remains uncertain, but it is predicted to stem from his childhood dog.

[1]: 226  Fate of the Animals remains one of Marc's most famous pieces and displays Der Blaue Reiter style that he co-founded with Wassily Kandinsky.

The last third of the painting was damaged in a warehouse fire in 1916 after Marc's death and was later restored by one of his close friends, Paul Klee.

In a letter to Auguste Macke, Marc referred to the picture with a longer title: The trees show their rings, the animals their veins.

This is from the evident tree rings present as well as the green horse on the right whose veins are visible on its body.

Most scholars believe that the animals are deer based on Marc's older works where he depicts them with the same colors and physical attributes.

The lack of horizontal and vertical lines throughout the painting along with the deep colors, create tension.

Some scholars believe that the blue deer is seen as a sacrifice, whose color and up-looking posture further prove.

The scene starts at the top left corner where there are three main sparks present.

It misses the blue deer and heads towards the boars in the bottom left of the painting.

The main large diagonals going across the canvas from the top middle to the bottom right is a tree.

There is no certainty as to why these animals were chosen as the only beings safe from the harm of the destructive forest.