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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certifcate from the Comité Chagall dated Saint-Paul le 10 mars 2001.
Painted in 1977, Profil bleu, jaune et blanc is an unusual picture within Chagall's work that uses its dark background to thrust the bold, incandescent colours of the figures and flowers into the foreground. In this way, Chagall has translated some of the luminosity of his recent experiences with stained glass into oils on a canvas. The specks of red, yellow and blue within the shadowed part of the woman's torso are especially firework-like, burning out like stars in the darkness and filling the picture with a hazy, sparkling sense of magic and mystery. The bold blue of the man's flesh and the golden yellow of the woman-- who appears to have been painted within the light cast by a window in a darkened room-- heighten the viewer's awareness of Chagall's bold colourism.
This magical atmosphere is heightened by the impossible little figures floating in the periphery including musicians, farmers and animals. Profil bleu, jaune et blanc combines many of Chagall's favourite themes, from flowers and lovers to music and animals. They are presented here in a group that combines the fantastical with the nostalgic, as though the viewer were being admitted to a hidden and private section of the artist's own memories and associations. This adds to the sense of poetic whimsy and romance that suffuses Chagall's paintings.
Painted in 1977, Profil bleu, jaune et blanc is an unusual picture within Chagall's work that uses its dark background to thrust the bold, incandescent colours of the figures and flowers into the foreground. In this way, Chagall has translated some of the luminosity of his recent experiences with stained glass into oils on a canvas. The specks of red, yellow and blue within the shadowed part of the woman's torso are especially firework-like, burning out like stars in the darkness and filling the picture with a hazy, sparkling sense of magic and mystery. The bold blue of the man's flesh and the golden yellow of the woman-- who appears to have been painted within the light cast by a window in a darkened room-- heighten the viewer's awareness of Chagall's bold colourism.
This magical atmosphere is heightened by the impossible little figures floating in the periphery including musicians, farmers and animals. Profil bleu, jaune et blanc combines many of Chagall's favourite themes, from flowers and lovers to music and animals. They are presented here in a group that combines the fantastical with the nostalgic, as though the viewer were being admitted to a hidden and private section of the artist's own memories and associations. This adds to the sense of poetic whimsy and romance that suffuses Chagall's paintings.