Stroller (Large bright stroll)

Macke spent much of 1913 on one subject. People out walking. Couples in a zoological garden, a promenade over a bridge, figures strolling beside a lake. He made them by the dozen. Here a man in a dark coat and bowler hat stands with two women in pale coats and wide hats, the trees behind them broken into flat patches of green and blue.

The faces have no features. Macke built his figures out of coats, hats and colour and left the features off, so the clothing carries everything the picture says about who these people are and what year it is.

The German title means the large bright walk, and at just over a metre across it is one of the bigger ones he made. The support is cardboard, not canvas.