Mu­seum Au­gust Macke Haus

Nowhere else will art en­thu­si­asts be able to get as close to Ger­man ex­pres­sion­ist Au­gust Macke (1887-1914) as they do in his former res­id­ence and stu­dio build­ing, which has been con­ver­ted in­to a mul­ti­me­dia-based bio­graph­ic mu­seum. The co-founder of the artist group “Blauer Re­it­er” lived and worked in this three-storey build­ing con­struc­ted in late clas­si­cist style in 1878 from 1911 to 1914. This is where the ex­cep­tion­al artist re­ceived celebrit­ies from the Rheni­an art scene and bey­ond, in­clud­ing, among oth­er people, Robert Delaunay, Guil­laume Apol­lin­aire, Franz Marc, Gab­ri­ele Münter, and Max Ernst.

Guests roaming the 14 intimate rooms of the building today to explore the museum’s permanent exhibition are able to track the things that moved the artist deep inside in an era that was characterised by pervasive change, based on 100 original works, a large selection of memorabilia, pieces of furniture, and documents.

They will learn more about his artistic development, his commitment in the politics of art, and his loving relationship with the family he shared his life in Bonn’s inner city with from 1911 until his early death at the age of only 27. He died in 1914, just after World War I began.

More than virtually any other artist, August Macke managed to record paradise on earth one last time in his brightly coloured, light-flooded pictures before World War I came to shatter it.

Guests can get to know the painter’s former studio in the attic, where August Macke and Franz Marc created their shared mural “Paradies” (Paradise). Like Macke before them in the early 20th century, they will be able to view St. Mary’s Church or the Viktoriabrücke bridge nearby through the large windows – some places the painter used as motives for his work here and there.

After touring the residential building, visitors on a day trip can continue on to the modern annex to the museum, designed by architect Karl-Heinz Schommer from Bonn and opened in 2017. It hosts changing special exhibitions dedicated to expressionism, classical modernism, and Macke’s artist friendships.