Market in Tunis II

1914

Watercolor over pencil, 25.5 × 20.8 cm. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

A street market seen through awnings, stalls and passers-by, washed in pale light. It comes from the spring trip to Tunisia that Macke made with Paul Klee and their friend Louis Moilliet.

The museum places it among the first watercolors Macke painted outdoors on the trip, partly because of its restrained color.
Under the washes lies a pencil drawing; Klee, working beside Macke, skipped that step and went directly to paint.
Look at the figures in the foreground: the museum reads them as a screen that blocks our way into the market.
Perspective lines pull the eye into depth while flat, see-through washes hold it at the surface; the bare paper glowing through them keeps the light pale and bright.
The title came from his wife and Moilliet; Berlin bought it from his estate in 1921.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · PD-Art