August Macke’s Bildnisstudie Bernhard Koehler (Portrait Study of Bernhard Koehler), painted in 1913, presents its elderly sitter at close quarters, his head lowered and his long white beard sharply illuminated against a field of restless colour. Koehler’s grave, inward-looking expression is held in tension with the surrounding blues, yellows, muted greens and flashes of orange. Rather than describing a conventional interior, Macke allows these hues to move freely around the figure, making colour an active part of the portrait’s structure.

The sitter was the industrialist and collector Bernhard Koehler, a significant patron of modern German art and a supporter of Macke and artists associated with Der Blaue Reiter. The portrait therefore records more than a passing likeness: it brings together an avant-garde painter and one of the figures who helped sustain the artistic culture in which he worked. By 1913, Macke had developed an approach shaped by German Expressionism and the wider European rethinking of colour and form. Strict naturalism gives way here to simplification, strong tonal contrasts and a decorative intensity that remains attentive to individual character.

A closer look

Koehler occupies most of the vertical composition, yet he sits slightly away from its centre. The resulting imbalance is subtle but effective: the bowed head and downward gaze establish a quiet psychological focus, while the colour behind him seems to circulate with considerably greater energy. Deep blue gathers along the left side; towards the upper right, a glowing area of yellow opens around the sitter’s head and shoulder. Between them, softer greens and orange-brown passages produce a shifting, layered space rather than a fixed architectural setting.

The face and beard contain some of the painting’s most concentrated handling. Short, pale strokes give the beard its soft, slightly unruly texture, while warmer notes model the brow, cheek and nose without smoothing away the evidence of the brush. Dark clothing anchors the lower half of the portrait, relieved by pale orange accents around the collar and by the light falling across the upper garment. Koehler’s hands gather near a lightly painted, angular form at the lower centre—perhaps a book or folded paper—though Macke leaves it suggestive rather than precisely defined.

Small colour exchanges bind figure and background together. Yellow flecks punctuate the blue at the left, while warm reflections pass from the surrounding orange into the sitter’s clothing and hands. These repetitions prevent the figure from appearing cut out against the background. At the same time, the white beard, dark coat and illuminated upper-right field create a firm sequence of light and shadow, directing attention first to the head and then down through the folded posture.

Context and significance

Macke was among the leading artists connected with Der Blaue Reiter, the Munich-based circle that sought new expressive possibilities in colour and form during the years before the First World War. His work often favoured lucid silhouettes and harmonious colour relationships, but this portrait has a more agitated surface than many of his serene scenes of promenades, gardens and shop windows. Its brushwork remains visibly active, and the background approaches abstraction without losing its function as a setting for the sitter.

Painted only a year before Macke’s death in 1914, Bildnisstudie Bernhard Koehler belongs to the artist’s remarkably compressed mature period. Its enduring force lies in the meeting of opposites: an introspective pose surrounded by animated colour, an individual likeness built from broad simplifications, and the quiet authority of age rendered through an emphatically modern pictorial language.

Choosing the right size and finish

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The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this art print.

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This artwork is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The work is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present an art print without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas art and explore the differences between my different finishes.