Details
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Les Paysans de Vence
signed 'Marc Chagall' (lower right), signed and titled 'Marc Chagall Les Paysans de Vence' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
43¾ x 32¼in. (111 x 82cm.)
Painted in 1967
Exhibited
Saint-Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght, Hommage à Marc Chagall, 1967.
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Marc Chagall, 1991, no. 96 (illustrated in colour).
Andros, Greece, Musée d'Art Moderne, Fondation Basil and Elise Goulandris, summer 1994.

Lot Essay

Chagall lived in Vence from 1949 to 1966 in a house called "Les Collines" on the slope of the Baou des Blancs. Since the war the Côte d'Azur had become a thriving artistic centre. Matisse, who had stayed at Vence from 1943 to 1948, now lived at Cimiez above Nice whilst Picasso had his home at Vallauris. Chagall was in touch with both, as well as writers of prose and verse and many other members of the Mediterranean artistic community. All the paintings Chagall produced of this beautiful region bear the splendour and the blue of the Mediterranean.

"Since the time of Renoir and Bonnard the most brilliant geniuses of modern painting had been coming to settle there in their years of maturity. It is a glorious place. All the great artists and poets who settled there succeeded in perfecting their work and fulfilling themselves, and created an atmosphere of blissful solitude, communing only with the beauty of the landscape and the workers in the vineyards" (J. Cassou, Chagall, London, 1965, p. 206).

The Comité Marc Chagall have kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.

More from Impressionist & Modern Paintings,Watercolours & Sculpture I

View All
View All