Bathing girls with town in the backgraund 1913

August Macke painted 'Bathing Girls with Town in the Background' with oil on canvas, though the exact date is not known. Macke was a key figure in the German Expressionist movement known as Der Blaue Reiter, or the Blue Rider. This painting reflects the group’s interest in primitivism and abstraction as a means of expressing inner emotional states. The loose brushwork and flattened perspective are reminiscent of Post-Impressionist styles. The bathing women, partially concealed by trees, evoke a sense of natural harmony, possibly inspired by artists like Cézanne and Matisse. However, Macke's work departs from theirs with his overt interest in social commentary. In Germany, at the time, the nude was often used as a symbol of freedom and naturalness, but also as a commentary on modernity. Macke may be using the subject to comment on the relationship between nature, culture, and the human body, which was changing with industrialisation and urbanization. To understand Macke's work more fully, one can look at the socio-political context of Germany in the early 20th century and the history of avant-garde art movements.