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Lot Essay
“A painting must blossom like something alive. It must seize something unseizable and unclear: the allure and the profound meaning of what concerns you”.
Marc Chagall (quoted in C. Sorlier, ed., Chagall on Chagall, New York, 1979, p. 54 & 212).
Among the most enduring motifs to enter into his personal iconography during this period was that of the floral still-life, which became an effusive symbol of love within his art. Early in his career, the artist had come to associate flowers with Bella, who had brought a bouquet with her as a gift one day to his studio. During his years in France in the 1920s the subject took on a new prominence, inspired by his surroundings, and became a harbinger of passion, romance and affection. Representing an archetypal gift for a lover to bring to their paramour, in Chagall’s art they bloom with startling abundance, their bright colours, full blossoms and heady scent seeming to spring off the canvas in a great explosion of life, offering a captivating expression of joy and love.
The explosion of colour that so often characterises his bouquets allowed Chagall to manipulate dramatic contrasts and subtle harmonies with aplomb, particularly when, as in the present work, he sets his flowers against a striking background of deep blue, emblematic of the richness of his palette.
As the present works testifies, here the artist exchanges one, or both, human figures within an amorous couple for an anthropomorphic animal or fantastical beast, finding in their forms a different energy. Some are hybrid creatures, half-human, half-animal, offering an alternative view of the figure’s personality or feelings, while others appear as elemental spirits, totemic signs of virility, sensuality and passion.
Marc Chagall (quoted in C. Sorlier, ed., Chagall on Chagall, New York, 1979, p. 54 & 212).
Among the most enduring motifs to enter into his personal iconography during this period was that of the floral still-life, which became an effusive symbol of love within his art. Early in his career, the artist had come to associate flowers with Bella, who had brought a bouquet with her as a gift one day to his studio. During his years in France in the 1920s the subject took on a new prominence, inspired by his surroundings, and became a harbinger of passion, romance and affection. Representing an archetypal gift for a lover to bring to their paramour, in Chagall’s art they bloom with startling abundance, their bright colours, full blossoms and heady scent seeming to spring off the canvas in a great explosion of life, offering a captivating expression of joy and love.
The explosion of colour that so often characterises his bouquets allowed Chagall to manipulate dramatic contrasts and subtle harmonies with aplomb, particularly when, as in the present work, he sets his flowers against a striking background of deep blue, emblematic of the richness of his palette.
As the present works testifies, here the artist exchanges one, or both, human figures within an amorous couple for an anthropomorphic animal or fantastical beast, finding in their forms a different energy. Some are hybrid creatures, half-human, half-animal, offering an alternative view of the figure’s personality or feelings, while others appear as elemental spirits, totemic signs of virility, sensuality and passion.