1887:
August Robert Ludwig Macke is born in Meschede (Sauerland) on January 3. His father, August Friedrich Hermann Macke (1845-1904), is a building contractor and civil engineer with an interest in drawing and collecting old engravings and coins. His mother, Maria Florentine, née Adolph, (1848-1922), comes from a farming family in Germany's Sauerland region. Shortly after his birth, August's parents move to Cologne with him and his two older sisters. The family lives at Brüsseler Strasse until August is 13.

1893:
August begins school. In 1897 he enters high school (Kreuzgassengymnasium). He meets Hanns Thuar who lives on the same street and also becomes an artist. The two remain friends for the rest of their lives.

1900:
The Macke family moves to Bonn at Meckenheimer Strasse 29 (now Thomas-Mann-Strasse). August's mother runs a small boarding house for college students and teachers to improve the family's the poor financial situation. August enters the intermediate school located at Doetschstrasse. Among his schoolmates are Alfred Schütte and Lothar Erdmann. Schütte's father later makes it possible for August to study at Düsseldorf's art academy, while Erdmann, one of August's best friends, later writes the first biography of Macke and in 1916 marries August's widow Elisabeth. Macke visits his married sister Auguste in Kandern (Black Forest) for the first time. From there he takes trips to the art museum in Basel and develops an enthusiasm for the paintings of Arnold Böcklin.

1903:
On the way to school August meets his future wife Elisabeth Gerhardt, 15 year old daughter of a factory owner in Bonn.

1904:
Against the will of his father, August leaves high school before graduating. He studies Max Klinger's prints and art theory. In October he is admitted to Düsseldorf's Fine Arts Academy, but soon criticizes its conservative teaching methods and repeated copying of "plaster dummies." His father dies on October 27.

1905:
Macke additionally attends evening courses with Professor Fritz Hellmuth Ehmcke at Düsseldorf's School of Applied Arts. Peter Behrens is the Director of the school, and motion studies rather than academic contour drawings are the central artistic theme. Macke is inspired by Japanese art, especially by the work of Katsushika Hokusais. He meets Luxembourg sculptor Claus Cito and writer and dramatist from Bonn Wilhelm Schmidtbonn. The latter introduces him to the circle surrounding Louise Dumont and Gustav Lindemann who direct the newly established Düsseldorf Playhouse. Under their influence, August is inspired by the need for a renewal of theater, and works on designs for stage sets and costumes. In April he travels to Italy with Elisabeth's brother, Walter Gerhardt. At the beginning of the month of August, Macke visits an exhibition showing Arnold Böcklin and Hans Thomas at the Art Association in Heidelberg.

1906:
In July, Macke travels with Schmidtbonn, Cito, and Herbert Eulenberg, dramatic advisor at the Düsseldorf Playhouse, to Belgium and the Netherlands. Together with Schmidtbonn, Macke goes on to London and visits, among other sights, the British Museum. Frustrated, he leaves the Fine Arts Academy in Düsseldorf for independent studies.

1907:
In April and May, Macke and Cito travel to Kandern to stay with August's sister. Through the writings of Julius Meier-Graefe and photographs in the Museum of Art in Basel, Macke discovers the French Impressionists. Inspired by them, he begins to paint outdoors and moves frees himself of the influence of Böcklin, Thoma, and Klinger whose works he had previously admired. In June, Macke leaves for a four-week stay in Paris. He receives financial support from Elisabeth's uncle Bernhard Koehler, Berlin factory owner. Macke sees originals by the French Impressionists for the first time and is captivated above all by Manet, Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec. After his return, he decides to go to Berlin for a lengthy period of study. He intends to continue his interrupted education in evening courses at the private school of Lovis Corinth, a leading representatives of German Impressionism. In the daytime, Macke tours museums, galleries, and libraries. He studies Leonardo da Vinci's theory of art and pores through art journals to familiarize himself with the works of the French Modernists. He meets Bernhard Koehler in person; Koehler remains a generous supporter and patron of Macke for the rest of the artist's short life. In return, Macke advises him on assembling his important collection.

1908:
After returning from Berlin, Macke travels in April/May with Elisabeth Gerhardt, her mother Sophie, and her brother Walter to Italy. He works intensively on drawings of the great masterpieces of the Italian early and high renaissance. In July he travels again to Paris, this time with Bernhard Koehler and Elisabeth.

1908:
Macke begins his one-year period of military service.

1909:
On October 5, August Macke and Elisabeth Gerhardt marry. The honeymoon takes the couple via Frankfurt and Colmar to Bern, where they stay as guests of Elisabeth's friends, the Moilliet family. Together with the family's son, painter Louis Moilliet, they travel to Paris. Macke studies the paintings of Honoré Daumier and for the first time sees works by the Italian Futurists. He visits the Salon d'Automne, becomes familiar with the art of the French Fauvists, and meets the painter Carl Hofer. At the urging of his friend Schmidtbonn, Macke moves to Tegernsee with his wife at the end of October. They live in the Villa Brand with the Schmidtbonns until a quarrel arises, after which they move to the home of the carpenter Staudacher.

1910:
In January, Macke is accompanied on a trip to Munich by his artist cousin Helmuth Macke and Bernhard Koehler Jr. They see works by Franz Marc and then visit the artist. Macke invites Marc to Tegernsee. A lifelong friendship and intensive correspondence begins. On April 13 a son, Walter Carl August, is born. In Munich, Macke sees originals by Matisse and is greatly influenced by his art. He visits an exhibition of the Neue Künstlervereinigung Munich and meets artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Alexei von Jawlensky. In November, Macke returns to Bonn with his family. His mother-in-law fulfills his wish to set up a studio. While the house is being converted, the family lives with Sophie Gerhardt next door.

1911:
In February, the Mackes move into their home on Bornheimer Strasse 88 (now 96), the so-called August Macke Haus. On the top floor, his first and only studio, many of his most important paintings are created, as well as prints, sculptures, and craft objects.

1912:
Macke shows his work in numerous exhibitions. His art sells well and is shown in Moscow, Cologne, Munich, and Jena, as well as in traveling exhibitions of the Blauer Reiter.

1913:
In January, art critic and writer Guillaume Apollinaire and Robert Delaunay stop to visit the Mackes in Bonn on the way back to Paris from Berlin. The contacts continue by correspondence. Macke's second son, Wolfgang, is born on February 8. During the summer months, Macke assembles a group of fifteen Rhenish artists and stages the legendary exhibition of Rhenish Expressionists at Friedrich Cohen's bookshop in Bonn.

1914:
The Mackes are close friends of the Moilliet family who live nearby in Gunten. In January, Louis Moilliet is visited by his school friend Paul Klee, who also visits Macke. They plan a study trip to Tunisia. At the beginning of April Macke sets out for Marseille, where he meets with Klee and Moilliet on April 5 for the crossing to Africa. Together they work in the Arab quarter and in the port of Tunis, in Saint Germain, in the country house of the Swiss couple Ernst and Rosa Jäggi-Müller, in Sidi-Bou-Said, in Hammamet, and Kairouan. With countless photographs, sketches, and luminous water colors, Macke returns on April 22 to Switzerland via Palermo and Rome.