August Macke and the Blue Riders’

August Macke was born in Germany and raised in a family of building contractors with no artistic background. His distinguished, prestigious career ended with his death in World War I, and he died at a young age. He was one of the founders of the Blue Rider’s movement.

In the early 20th century, a transition in expressionism occurred, which remarkably affected those years’ artistic movements. The impact of this transition appeared in Fauvism and the Blue Riders’ campaign. The “Blue Riders’ “ painters learned a lot from the Fauvists. They broke up with the sentimental expressions in the modernist movement and brought more rational, wise elements to expressionism.

The painters such as August Macke, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc distinguished themselves from the by organizing the first exhibition as the creators ​of the Blue Riders movement. [1] But their activity was not last very long, actually from 1911- 1914. However, their efforts have influenced the evolution of modern art.

It is uncertain why the creators of Blue Rider defined themselves with those words. But they told once that the name derived from Marc’s interest in horses, Kandinsky’s passion for riders and their favourite dreamy blue color. Most Blue Riders artists were educated but didn’t follow the rules and, similar to other post expressionists, used bright unnatural colors, extravagant flat images, and they loved irregularity.