In April 1914 a young artist is basking in the exotic light of Tunisia, painting canvases that practically sing with color. A few months later the colors vanish, replaced by a gloomy, prophetic piece simply titled Farewell. By September, at just 27, he is dead in a trench in France. It is one of the most tragic whiplashes in art history.

We explore the brilliantly brief life of August Macke, an artistic sponge who absorbed Europe's greatest movements, unlocked his own genius, and then vanished into the mud of the First World War. We trace how his unique way of seeing was formed, the masterpieces he left behind, and the dark second life of his canvases.

• How stage and costume design taught him to manipulate light and 'hack human perception' rather than copy reality
• His rapid collision with Impressionism, Fauvism, the Blue R ...