Two Girls 1913

August Macke made this painting, 'Two Girls,' with oil on canvas. Look at the geometric abstraction of this composition! Macke’s brushwork, though expressive, is applied with a considered touch. There’s a push-pull happening between the figures and the space they occupy. I imagine Macke, brush in hand, stepping back, squinting, adjusting—a dance of intention and intuition. The girls’ gaze draws us into a world that is both familiar and dreamlike, a common motif for Macke. There is a really interesting use of light and shadow that gives everything a faceted look. I think about how Macke was involved with the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter. Their work embraced abstraction as a means of expressing inner emotional and spiritual states. What I really love about painting is the sense of connection across time, an ongoing dialogue through the language of form and color. Macke's exploration of color and form inspires me to see how paintings are a means to explore the world.