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Lot Essay
The Comité Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Painted in 1980, Marc Chagall’s L’attente presents the viewer with a striking self-portrait of the artist, identifiable by his distinctive hairstyle and strong features, surrounded by the dreamlike motifs and fantastical characters which were such ubiquitous elements in his paintings throughout his career. Staring out contentedly from the centre of the canvas, Chagall portrays himself in a direct and easily recognisable manner, grasping a large bunch of vibrantly coloured flowers. Above his head, the figure of a woman in a red dress floats across the sky, gazing down at the artist, who remains oblivious to her presence. Suggesting the inner space of the artist’s reverie, L’attente presents an image of the artist looking back on his life in later years, recalling and contemplating his past from a position of great contentment and happiness.
Painted while the artist was happily living in the South of France with his second wife, Vava, L’attente portrays the past with a strong sense of nostalgia. The painting features several references to Chagall’s early life in Russia, with the distinctive silhouettes of the houses of Vitebsk, the small town where he grew up, visible in the background. The farm animals which appear across the canvas also represent the rural upbringing he experienced there. From the rooster perched on top of the artist’s flowers, to the livestock at the bottom right hand side of the composition, these animals affectionately recall a simpler way of life, and were a recurring feature in Chagall’s paintings. Arranged arbitrarily on the canvas in a series of surprising and humorous relationships, these elements lend the composition a whimsical, dreamlike atmosphere, as the artist’s sentimental recollections of his past seem to swirl around him.
For Chagall, the artist’s psyche was the foundation of all his paintings. Believing that the spirit should make its way into any of the artworks he produced, he explained ‘A painting must blossom like something alive. It must seize something unseizable and unclear: The allure and the profound meaning of what concerns you’ (Chagall, quoted in C. Sorlier, Chagall and Chagall, New York, 1979, p. 54). In L’attente, Chagall reveals the importance of memory in his thoughts at this stage of his career. Looking back on the beginnings of his life, he fondly acknowledges the formative influence his youth in Vitebsk had, not only on his art, but also in his development as an individual.
Painted in 1980, Marc Chagall’s L’attente presents the viewer with a striking self-portrait of the artist, identifiable by his distinctive hairstyle and strong features, surrounded by the dreamlike motifs and fantastical characters which were such ubiquitous elements in his paintings throughout his career. Staring out contentedly from the centre of the canvas, Chagall portrays himself in a direct and easily recognisable manner, grasping a large bunch of vibrantly coloured flowers. Above his head, the figure of a woman in a red dress floats across the sky, gazing down at the artist, who remains oblivious to her presence. Suggesting the inner space of the artist’s reverie, L’attente presents an image of the artist looking back on his life in later years, recalling and contemplating his past from a position of great contentment and happiness.
Painted while the artist was happily living in the South of France with his second wife, Vava, L’attente portrays the past with a strong sense of nostalgia. The painting features several references to Chagall’s early life in Russia, with the distinctive silhouettes of the houses of Vitebsk, the small town where he grew up, visible in the background. The farm animals which appear across the canvas also represent the rural upbringing he experienced there. From the rooster perched on top of the artist’s flowers, to the livestock at the bottom right hand side of the composition, these animals affectionately recall a simpler way of life, and were a recurring feature in Chagall’s paintings. Arranged arbitrarily on the canvas in a series of surprising and humorous relationships, these elements lend the composition a whimsical, dreamlike atmosphere, as the artist’s sentimental recollections of his past seem to swirl around him.
For Chagall, the artist’s psyche was the foundation of all his paintings. Believing that the spirit should make its way into any of the artworks he produced, he explained ‘A painting must blossom like something alive. It must seize something unseizable and unclear: The allure and the profound meaning of what concerns you’ (Chagall, quoted in C. Sorlier, Chagall and Chagall, New York, 1979, p. 54). In L’attente, Chagall reveals the importance of memory in his thoughts at this stage of his career. Looking back on the beginnings of his life, he fondly acknowledges the formative influence his youth in Vitebsk had, not only on his art, but also in his development as an individual.