Woman in a Green Jacket (The Lady in a Green Jacket) August Macke Date: 1913 Style: Expressionism Genre: genre painting Media: oil, canvas
August Macke was a renowned expressionist artist part of a group of German expressionist artists, in the early twentieth century, known as Der Blaue Reiter meaning ‘the blue rider’. August completed painting the Lady in a Green Jacket in 1913. The painting is one of his expressionism masterpieces. The painting exudes expressionism through its portraying of an emotional state and relaying of a deeper meaning, which goes beyond the basic physical realities.
The lady in a Green Jacket shows a lady in a distinct green jacket at the centre. The bold use of green on the jacket, in comparison to the softer shades on the other characters, draws attention towards the lady. Two couples are present, both before the lady. Trees form at the near edges of the painting with yellow leaves suggesting autumn. The perspective of the painting continues to show a village in the background. It portrays a harmonious arrangement of form together with the fine color equilibration (Taschen, pg 1).
Expressionism was a movement focused on presenting the world distorted so as to evoke moods, feelings and ideas. The movement sought a subjective appeal in paintings that went beyond the face value reality. In the Lady in a Green Jacket, the lady is shown alone looking down. This suggests sadness, even grief. One wonders why the lady is all alone while there are two couples present. The couples appear pleased, clad in good suits and lovely bright dresses. The hung head of the lone lady implies sadness due to loneliness. The dark colors on the lady suggest a funeral. The lady may have lost a loved one. This evokes empathy for the lady, the objective of an expressionist mind.
The painting exudes an expressionism feel by portraying both happiness in the two couples and sadness in the lonely lady. The contrast of the two moods together with the loneliness of the lady in the green jacket arouses our emotive thinking.
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