Kairouan I

Although Macke was a key figure in the Expressionist movement and Der Blaue Reiter, this piece is not a typical example of either style. The artist has used minimal detail in the oversimplified animal figures and buildings in the piece. The entirety of the painting is bathed in blue, purple and green light, that due to the nature of watercolour paints, permeates the scene with a luxurious haze. These colours are perhaps used by Macke to demonstrate the exoticism of the scene to his usual Northern European viewer. New possibilities for travel and communication with the rest of the world sparked a trend for “orientalism” in the West; many artists travelled for months to experience the very different culture, architecture, and climate of the East. Macke visited the city of Kairouan on a trip to Tunisia in 1914 with the artists Louis Moilliet and Paul Klee.