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Lot Essay
Chagall arrived in Paris in August 1910, stepping into a city that had long captivated his imagination. With modest financial support from a St. Petersburg patron, he was finally free to immerse himself in the artistic currents of the French capital. Paris, the epicenter of modern painting, offered Chagall not only exposure to the avant-garde but also the opportunity to redefine his own visual language, one that would soon become unmistakably his.
The present work, Autour de la lampe, painted shortly after his arrival, marks a pivotal moment in Chagall’s evolution. The artist experimented boldly with color and surface, moving away from illusionistic depth toward a more decorative and emotionally resonant use of pigment. The palette, dominated by vivid primaries, echoes the influence of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, while the composition’s tilted spatial logic and abrupt framing suggest a familiarity with Japanese woodblock prints.
At the heart of the composition is a glowing petroleum lamp, a motif that recurs throughout Chagall’s oeuvre. More than a source of light, it serves as a symbol of warmth, domesticity, and memory, a beacon around which the figures gather. These characters, likely drawn from Chagall’s own family or community in Vitebsk, are rendered with a poetic distortion that enhances the emotional charge of the scene. As Werner Haftmann observed, Chagall’s embrace of expressive distortion, what Gauguin called ‘gaucherie,’ allowed him to transcend realism and tap into something more mythic and sublime.
Though Chagall was physically in Paris, his heart remained tethered to his Russian roots. The painting’s visionary color and dreamlike atmosphere reflect a longing for home, a nostalgia that would become a defining feature of his work. In this interior, we witness not just a room, but a memory transformed, a poetic dreamscape where past and present converge.
For collectors and connoisseurs, this work offers more than aesthetic beauty. It encapsulates a formative chapter in Chagall’s artistic journey and a testament to his ability to synthesize diverse influences while remaining true to his inner world. Autour de la lampe possesses both historical significance and emotional depth, a rare and compelling combination that continues to captivate audiences across generations.
The present work, Autour de la lampe, painted shortly after his arrival, marks a pivotal moment in Chagall’s evolution. The artist experimented boldly with color and surface, moving away from illusionistic depth toward a more decorative and emotionally resonant use of pigment. The palette, dominated by vivid primaries, echoes the influence of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, while the composition’s tilted spatial logic and abrupt framing suggest a familiarity with Japanese woodblock prints.
At the heart of the composition is a glowing petroleum lamp, a motif that recurs throughout Chagall’s oeuvre. More than a source of light, it serves as a symbol of warmth, domesticity, and memory, a beacon around which the figures gather. These characters, likely drawn from Chagall’s own family or community in Vitebsk, are rendered with a poetic distortion that enhances the emotional charge of the scene. As Werner Haftmann observed, Chagall’s embrace of expressive distortion, what Gauguin called ‘gaucherie,’ allowed him to transcend realism and tap into something more mythic and sublime.
Though Chagall was physically in Paris, his heart remained tethered to his Russian roots. The painting’s visionary color and dreamlike atmosphere reflect a longing for home, a nostalgia that would become a defining feature of his work. In this interior, we witness not just a room, but a memory transformed, a poetic dreamscape where past and present converge.
For collectors and connoisseurs, this work offers more than aesthetic beauty. It encapsulates a formative chapter in Chagall’s artistic journey and a testament to his ability to synthesize diverse influences while remaining true to his inner world. Autour de la lampe possesses both historical significance and emotional depth, a rare and compelling combination that continues to captivate audiences across generations.