The August-Macke-Haus or August Macke House is a museum in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, opened in 1991, dedicated to the

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter August Macke. It is located in Macke's former home, where he lived from 1911 to 1914. The museum displays reconstructed interiors and houses temporary exhibitions, usually focusing on Expressionism. In the August-Macke-Haus, Macke's studio has been restored, including furniture from his Tegernsee days. A basic archive of Rhenish Expressionism is available in addition to a reference library.

History

On October 5, 1909, August Macke married his long-time girlfriend, Elisabeth Gerhardt. The couple first lived on

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an ...

, then moved to

. Macke painted continuously, was increasingly finding his direction and urgently needed a studio. This was set up in the attic of the house of his mother-in-law, Sophie Gerhardt, built in 1877–1878, at Bornheimer Strasse 88 (now 96); the renovation was carried out according to plans by the Bonn architect Hermann Schmitt. The father-in-law, the entrepreneur Carl Heinrich Gerhardt, had bought the house in 1884 as his company's archive and furnished it for the purpose. He died in 1907. In February 1911 Macke moved into this house with his wife and son Walter. The studio was Macke's first and only. The few years when was able to work there turned out to be his most productive. The artist completed more than 400 paintings while living in the house. He also often painted his surroundings, the view from the house, the streets and the garden. At the time, Macke had made relatively long journeys to know better modern painting, innovative artists and new surroundings. In the place where he now lived, he welcomed people like Franz Marc,

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

Gabriele Münter Gabriele Münter (19 February 1877 – 19 May 1962) was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century. She studied and lived with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and was a founding mem ...

and

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

. With Franz Marc, Macke painted the large mural ''Paradise'' on the studio wall in 1912. It was dismantled in 1980 and is now in the

Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History The Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History (''LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte'') is an arts and cultural museum in Münster, Germany Besides an extensive collection ranging from '' spätgotik'' painting and sculptur ...

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

. It was replaced by a copy in the original size, now on display in the Macke Museum. In 1914, shortly after the start of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Macke was killed in action in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the age of 27. After two years, his widow married a friend of her husband's, Lothar Erdmann. She lived with him and Macke's two sons (Erdmann's two children would come later) in the same house until 1925, when she moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. The house was then rented, but not the studio. Her second husband died in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

in 1939. Elisabeth returned to the house in 1948 and set up in the studio, in which she lived until 1975, before moving back to Berlin, where she died in 1978. A bronze plaque commemorating August Macke was attached to the house in the presence of the students who had suggested it and Ms. Erdmann-Macke in 1972 and still hangs there. The house, which had not been listed until then, was acquired by a building contractor from

who wanted to gutt the house and convert it into a restaurant, after the above-mentioned mural had been translocated. Margarethe Jochimsen, chairwoman of the Bonner Kunstverein, founded a citizens' initiative to put the house under a preservation order and thus prevent the renovation. In 1989 the association "August Macke Haus" was founded, which became responsible for the museum's artistic program. In the same year the house was taken by the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

and the sponsor and building contractor Herbert Hillebrand bought it to be properly renovated, to have Macke's studio restored and open to the public. On September 26, 1991, the August-Macke-Haus was officially opened in the presence of the then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia,

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician ( SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

. Margarethe Jochimsen was the founding director. The financial sponsor of the house, the "August Macke Haus der Sparkasse Bonn Foundation", was founded in 1994.Margarethe Jochimsen, "Das August-Macke-Haus in Bonn: Ein Stück bundeshauptstädtischer Kulturpolitik", in ''Kritische Berichte'', Band 16, Nr. 3/1988 (German), ISSN 0340-7403

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:August-Macke-Haus Art museums and galleries in Germany Biographical museums in Germany Historic house museums in Germany Museums in Bonn Art museums established in 1991 1991 establishments in Germany Macke August Macke

History

See also

References

External links