Inspired by the wild horses he saw in the 1910s working on ranches in the American West, Ulreich began painting stylized, vividly colored, non-representational groups of horses circa 1930 and continued until his death in 1966.  Horses became the most iconic and often repeated subject in his oeuvre.  Influenced by the German Expressionist Franz Marc and the Surrealist Georgio de Chirico, these artists–as well as Ulreich–depicted horses as symbols of freedom, beauty and spiritual purity.

As with all other themes in Ulreich’s work, he disregarded the physical reality of a subject and sought instead to capture its spiritual truth and beauty.