His artistic style is based on what he calls "foquism" which may be considered as an extension in terms of style of art presented by the cubism of Picasso or the works created by Georges Braque, Franz Marc, or Lyonel Feininger or even the futurist art movement.
Marc was on the list but was struck in the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter during the Battle of Verdun in 1916 before orders for reassignment could reach him.
According to the Brooklyn Rail Many artists collected his woodcuts: Degas, Gauguin, Klimt, Franz Marc, August Macke, Manet, and van Gogh included.
Franz Marc's Horse in a Landscape (1910) has been described as formally similar to The Monk by the Sea.
Michel Noble: Cover – interpretation of “Les petits chevaux jaunes” by Franz Marc
Franz Liszt | Franz Schubert | Franz Kafka | Marc Jacobs | Marc Chagall | Franz Joseph I of Austria | Marc Anthony | Franz Ferdinand | Marc Ribot | Franz Boas | Franz Ferdinand (band) | Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria | Marc Almond | Franz Lehár | Marc Nelson | Marc Bolan | Franz Josef Land | Franz Werfel | Franz von Papen | Franz Kline | Franz Beckenbauer | Jean-Marc Lofficier | Marc Cohn | Marc Connelly | Franz Marc | Marc Lavoine | Marc Garneau | Franz Kneisel | Franz Joseph | Marc Quinn |
Bernhard Sprengel had already developed a passion for 20th-century art and he had begun a private collection of paintings and sculpture, including works by Picasso, Chagall, Macke, Beckmann, Marc, Klee and Feininger.
Those artists who failed to flee Europe found themselves conscripted to the front lines and many important artist such as Franz Marc and August Macke were killed in the trenches.
His friends and contemporaries at this time included the painter Emil Nolde and also Franz Marc, whose wife was among his piano students.
A collection of his letters shows that he was personally well acquainted with modern artists at the time, and he acquired and exhibited works by many of them, including Barlach, Feininger, Hofer, Kandinsky, Kirchner, Klee, Kokoschka, Lissitzky, Marc, and Munch.