St. Germain near Tunis - August Macke

A luminous watercolour by August Macke, capturing a balcony view in Tunisia with fluid lines and clear, expressive colour washes.

August Macke produced this watercolour during his brief but transformative journey to Tunisia in April 1914, alongside Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet. The trip provided the artist with a new visual vocabulary, allowing him to explore the effects of Mediterranean light on colour and form. In this composition, Macke captures a view from a balcony, looking out over the town of St. Germain towards the distant mountains. The work displays the artist's characteristic approach to light and space. Rather than relying on traditional perspective, Macke uses overlapping planes of colour to define the depth of the scene. The foreground features a balcony railing, rendered with fluid, calligraphic lines that guide the eye towards the houses and the mountainous backdrop. The palette is bright and clear, reflecting the intensity of the North African sun. Macke applies the watercolour in translucent washes, allowing the white of the paper to contribute to the luminosity of the image. This piece demonstrates the influence of the Fauvist movement on Macke's practice, particularly in his use of non-naturalistic colour to convey the atmosphere of the location. The houses are simplified into geometric shapes, while the vegetation is suggested through gestural brushwork. The composition balances the domestic intimacy of the balcony with the expansive scale of the Tunisian terrain. This work remains a clear example of the artist's ability to synthesise his observations into a cohesive, modern aesthetic. It captures a moment of clarity and discovery, marking a final period of creative output before his death later that year during the First World War.