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Lot Essay
The Comité Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Chagall had established himself as a colourist from early in his career, manipulating with mastery both harmony and contrast so that colour becomes an essential element of his work in its own right, but it was not until the latter part of his life that his colour achieved its full radiance and plenitude in his work. In Le jour et la nuit, Chagall has separated colour into distinct elements, juxtaposing his strong, primary palette with subtler tones of white and black in the upper half of the composition. As is typical of the artist's late work, the theme is neither strictly narrative nor folkloric, but poetically expresses the world of unconscious imagination to which Chagall was so drawn. Rich in imagery, the subject matter and forms, including the symbolically merged lovers' heads, swirl together and the symbolic reading seems to grow out of the rhythm of the organisation.
Chagall had established himself as a colourist from early in his career, manipulating with mastery both harmony and contrast so that colour becomes an essential element of his work in its own right, but it was not until the latter part of his life that his colour achieved its full radiance and plenitude in his work. In Le jour et la nuit, Chagall has separated colour into distinct elements, juxtaposing his strong, primary palette with subtler tones of white and black in the upper half of the composition. As is typical of the artist's late work, the theme is neither strictly narrative nor folkloric, but poetically expresses the world of unconscious imagination to which Chagall was so drawn. Rich in imagery, the subject matter and forms, including the symbolically merged lovers' heads, swirl together and the symbolic reading seems to grow out of the rhythm of the organisation.