St. Mary's with Houses and Chimney (Bonn) 1911

August Macke made this painting, St. Mary's with Houses and Chimney (Bonn), with oil on canvas. The painting feels light and airy, grounded by these big blocks of colour - reds, oranges, blues. You can imagine Macke playing with those colours, laying them down next to each other, seeing how they vibrate. I wonder what Macke was thinking when he juxtaposed the church steeple with the chimney, one reaching for the heavens, the other belching out smoke. Was he commenting on the changing times, the rise of industry against the backdrop of tradition? And how cool is that chimney, soaring upwards! I love the slightly off-kilter perspective. It reminds me of Cézanne, how he’d tilt the world just a little bit to make you see it anew. Macke, like many painters, was in conversation with those who came before him, picking up ideas, twisting them, making them his own. That's what painting is: one big, messy, beautiful conversation!