Macke was twenty-seven when he was killed on the Western Front in September 1914. He had been painting seriously for about six years. In April of that same year he had been in Tunisia with Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet, making watercolours in the souks of Tunis and Kairouan. The gap between the two events, four months, is one of the starkest in modern art.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1887–1914, German
- Movement
- Works held in
- 33 museums[1]
Biography
He grew up in a family of building contractors in Meschede, Westphalia, with no artistic connections. He visited Paris multiple times and absorbed Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism in rapid succession, but his paintings look like none of those movements. What he took from France was colour: warm, saturated, joyful. His street scenes, market squares and park promenades glow with a light that belongs to someone who finds the world beautiful and wants to record it before it changes.
He met Franz Marc in 1910, and through Marc became involved with Der Blaue Reiter. His temperament was the opposite of Kandinsky's theoretical intensity. Macke painted intuitively, quickly, and with an optimism that made him the most approachable of the German Expressionists.
The Tunisian watercolours are his finest work: small, luminous, almost abstract in their reduction of architecture and figures to planes of colour. Klee wrote afterward that colour had taken possession of him. The same could be said of Macke, who had been working toward that moment for years.
He was drafted immediately when war broke out. His wife Elisabeth received notification of his death six weeks later. Marc, his closest friend, was killed at Verdun in 1916.
Timeline
- 1887Born in Meschede, Westphalia, Germany. He grew up in Cologne and later Bonn.
- 1904At 17, enrolled at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf after his father's death. He also worked as a stage designer at the Schauspielhaus and travelled to Italy.
- 1907At 20, visited Paris for the first time and discovered Impressionism. He later spent several months studying in Lovis Corinth's Berlin studio.
- 1909At 22, married Elisabeth Gerhardt in Bonn, who became his principal muse for over 200 portraits. That year he also met Franz Marc in Munich.
- 1911At 24, joined Der Blaue Reiter in Munich, founded by Marc and Kandinsky. His luminous, colour-saturated paintings featured in the group's touring exhibitions.
- 1912At 25, met Robert Delaunay in Paris, whose colourful Orphist approach to Cubism gave Macke a new vocabulary for structuring light and form.
- 1914At 27, travelled to Tunisia in April with Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet. The trip produced a series of radiant watercolours now considered masterpieces.
- 1914Killed in action at 27 at the front in Champagne, France, on 26 September, in just the second month of the First World War.
Notable Works
Tap to view larger.
Where to See August Macke
27 museums worldwide.
-
9 works
Museum Ludwig
Gebäudekomplex der Kölner Philharmonie und des Museum Ludwig, Germany
Related Artists
Frequently Asked Questions
When did august macke die?
August Macke died in 1914 at the age of 27.Who is august macke?
August Macke was a painter, watercolourist, and decorative artist. He befriended Franz Marc and Vasily Kandinsky, and he exhibited at both Blaue Reiter exhibitions in 1912. However, Macke distanced himself from Kandinsky’s metaphysical approach to abstraction, and was instead increasingly influenced by Robert De.August macke quotes?
August Macke wrote in a letter to Walden in 1913, 'We do not live for art. But art is our life'.Who was august macke?
August Macke was a German painter and watercolourist who associated with Der Blaue Reiter. He was killed in World War One at the age of twenty-seven, after painting seriously for only about six years. Macke is considered the most approachable of the German Expressionists due to his intuitive painting style and optimism.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for August Macke.
- [1] museum Buffalo AKG Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [2] museum Kunsthalle Mannheim Used for: museum holdings.
- [3] museum Städel Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [4] museum Germanisches Nationalmuseum Used for: museum holdings.
- [5] museum Museum Kunstpalast Used for: museum holdings.
- [6] museum Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History Used for: museum holdings.
- [7] book Dorothy Price, German Expressionism: Der Blaue Reiter and Its Legacies Used for: biography.
- [8] book Starr Figura, German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse Used for: biography.
- [9] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
Editorial standardsMethodologyCorrectionsAI disclosureAbout the editorial team