People by the Blue Lake

August Macke

National Gallery of Art

In this painting, abstract shapes and bright colors give the impression of two tall people standing outdoors. The people are in formal attire, depicted with vibrant colors and simplified forms: a man on the right has a square head with dark orange skin and no facial features. He appears to wear a black suit jacket over a white shirt with gray pants and a bowler hat. He stands next to another person on the left who appears to be a woman with dark red skin and no facial features wearing a blue coat over a white dress, with something on her head that may be a dark, wide-brimmed hat. The woman is reaching down to the left towards an area of the painting with white, pink, and orange shapes, which may depict a small child facing away from us, with white skin and clothes, light pink hair, and an orange hat. In the background, shapes resembling twisted brown and red tree trunks add organic lines, along with areas of green, orange, and yellow. Areas of blue suggest a sky behind the trees, and the ground under the people is mostly orange with areas of yellow, green, and blue.