August Macke
A painter who captured the radiant, everyday poetry of light and color before his life was cut tragically short in World War I.
1887–1914 (age 27)·German painter·Birthday: January 3·The Lost Generation
Biography
August Macke's artistic career burned bright and fast, a mere seven years of mature work leaving behind a legacy of luminous color. Moving to Bonn as a child, he immersed himself in Europe's avant-garde, absorbing the fractured planes of Cubism and the pure hues of Robert Delaunay's Orphism. Yet Macke's true subject was the joy of ordinary life—strollers in parks, shoppers under awnings, friends at cafe tables. As a core member of the Blue Rider group, he helped forge a German modernism that was less about angst and more about visual harmony. His famed 1914 trip to Tunisia with Paul Klee produced watercolors of breathtaking clarity. Just months later, at age 27, he was killed in action on the Western Front, his potential forever unfulfilled but his canvases forever singing with color.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
August was born in 1887, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When August Was Born
The biggest hits of 1887
August's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1887Born
President: Grover Cleveland
1892Started school
President: Benjamin Harrison
1900Became a teenager
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1903Could drive
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1905Could vote
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1908Turned 21
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1914Died at 27
World War I begins
President: Woodrow Wilson
Key Achievements
- Was a founding member of the influential Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).
- Created a seminal body of work during his 1914 trip to Tunisia, profoundly influencing his colleague Paul Klee.
- His painting 'Lady in a Green Jacket' (1913) is considered a masterpiece of German Expressionist figure painting.
- Organized the landmark 'Exhibition of the Rhenish Expressionists' in Bonn in 1913.
Did You Know?
He was married to Elisabeth Gerhardt, and many of his most tender portraits are of her.
Much of his work was declared 'degenerate' by the Nazis and removed from German museums.
He completed nearly 600 paintings and over 12,000 drawings in his short lifetime.
His final painting, 'Farewell,' was completed just days before he reported for military duty.
“I try to intensify the color, to make the form complete, to extend the expression of nature.”
