Marc CHAGALL (1887-1985)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Russia and Eastern Europe Man and woman Self portrait II
Chronology : 1920-1929 1924 1926 1928 1939 1943 1956 1966
See also : Russia and Eastern Europe Man and woman Self portrait II
Chronology : 1920-1929 1924 1926 1928 1939 1943 1956 1966
Intro
Marc Chagall was born Moishe Shagal near Vitebsk in Belarus, then part of the Russian empire. Piously raised by his parents in the Hasidic faith, he retained throughout his life its joyful liturgy.
Day after day Moishe's father Zachar went to make a prayer in the synagogue before executing his hard work carrying heavy barrels for a herring merchant. Escaping such a slavish burden for a few hours in the holy days, he displayed his great paternal kindliness.
Trained as an artist, Moishe moved to Paris in the path of his teacher Leon Bakst, the decorator of the Ballets Russes. A resident from the fall of 1911 in the cité La Ruche near Montparnasse, Marc Chagall avidly visits the Paris museums and galleries. He is dazzled by the processing of the most vivid colors in the former Fauviste style.
Paying a heartfelt tribute to his beloved father is quite natural for this hypersensitive artist. Le Père, oil on canvas 80 x 45 cm, is arguably one of his earliest works made in La Ruche. Chagall lost it with all his La Ruche works after he left Europe in 1914. Having managed to reacquire it after the Second World War, he convincingly dated it 1911. It was sold for $ 7.4M by Phillips on November 15, 2022, lot 17.
Le Père is painted in the Fauviste style with contrasted vivid colors. It is focusing on the white face surrounded by a full black beard and on the dark eyes edged in a wide flamboyant red.
Day after day Moishe's father Zachar went to make a prayer in the synagogue before executing his hard work carrying heavy barrels for a herring merchant. Escaping such a slavish burden for a few hours in the holy days, he displayed his great paternal kindliness.
Trained as an artist, Moishe moved to Paris in the path of his teacher Leon Bakst, the decorator of the Ballets Russes. A resident from the fall of 1911 in the cité La Ruche near Montparnasse, Marc Chagall avidly visits the Paris museums and galleries. He is dazzled by the processing of the most vivid colors in the former Fauviste style.
Paying a heartfelt tribute to his beloved father is quite natural for this hypersensitive artist. Le Père, oil on canvas 80 x 45 cm, is arguably one of his earliest works made in La Ruche. Chagall lost it with all his La Ruche works after he left Europe in 1914. Having managed to reacquire it after the Second World War, he convincingly dated it 1911. It was sold for $ 7.4M by Phillips on November 15, 2022, lot 17.
Le Père is painted in the Fauviste style with contrasted vivid colors. It is focusing on the white face surrounded by a full black beard and on the dark eyes edged in a wide flamboyant red.
Au-dessus de la Ville
1
1915
1990 SOLD for $ 9.9M by Christie's
Marc Chagall and Bella fell in love in 1909 in their hometown Vitebsk. They parted from one another from 1910 when Marc moved to Paris and Bella was a student in Moscow. Back in Russia in 1914, they were re-united in a still intact deep love.
Au-dessus de la Ville, conceived in 1914, expresses in joyous colors their dreamlike bliss. Marc is gently holding his fiancée in a horizontal floating in the blue sky high above the Vitebsk cityscape. Her outstretched arm is leading the way to happiness. Breton was to acknowledge Chagall as a forerunner of surréalisme. This gouache, distemper, black crayon and paper 36 x 50 cm was sold for £ 1.8M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2011, lot 4.
The couple married in 1915. A very similar remake from that year in oil on board 48 x 70 cm was sold for $ 9.9M by Christie's on May 15, 1990.
A large size oil on canvas 140 x 200 cm is dated ca 1914-1918.
Au-dessus de la Ville, conceived in 1914, expresses in joyous colors their dreamlike bliss. Marc is gently holding his fiancée in a horizontal floating in the blue sky high above the Vitebsk cityscape. Her outstretched arm is leading the way to happiness. Breton was to acknowledge Chagall as a forerunner of surréalisme. This gouache, distemper, black crayon and paper 36 x 50 cm was sold for £ 1.8M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2011, lot 4.
The couple married in 1915. A very similar remake from that year in oil on board 48 x 70 cm was sold for $ 9.9M by Christie's on May 15, 1990.
A large size oil on canvas 140 x 200 cm is dated ca 1914-1918.
2
1924
2023 SOLD for $ 15.6M by Sotheby's
Marc and Bella moved from Moscow to France in 1923. In 1924 in Paris, Marc painted a brighter remake of Au-dessus de la ville. This oil on canvas 68 x 91 cm was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 5.
1926 Les Trois Acrobates
2013 SOLD for $ 13M by Christie's
Marc Chagall only listens to his fancy, and gives the impression of ignoring the harsh constraints of his time. He cannot be attached to any school. He is a rare example of a hypersensitive and empathetic artist who shares his wonderful feelings. The closest example in the history of modern art is perhaps the "Douanier" Rousseau.
But nothing is easy. Chagall had its first success in Paris, but he was blocked in Russia by the revolution. When he is back in Paris in 1923 many things have changed. His friends have not forgotten his poetic processing of colors. In addition, the Surrealists consider him as one of their precursors, a pioneer in dream art.
Events had dispersed the oil paintings and gouaches of Chagall. To maintain his reputation, he remade by memory his most significant pre-war works. He was strongly encouraged by Vollard with whom he developed some series of prints.
The performance of the circus was more than entertainment for Chagall. He viewed it as a theatrical counterpart of the Hasidic use to preach joy. Same applies to dance and music. Throughout his life his art is populated with acrobats, violinists, circus animals and attending crowds.
On May 8, 2013, Christie's sold Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the replica of a lost painting.
The can-can dancing girl plays the lead, ready to twirl, and looking at us with a friendly smile. Farther, the two men are waiting their turn, peacefully. The colors are cheerful and the details include pleasant surprises such as the continuity of motifs between suit and stocking or the funny ghost animal installed on the shoulder of a man.
This painting is not surreal, it is simply a masterpiece of poetic and candid art in a dramatic staging that Marc considered as similar to religious art. It was sold for $ 13M from a lower estimate of $ 6M, lot 40. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
But nothing is easy. Chagall had its first success in Paris, but he was blocked in Russia by the revolution. When he is back in Paris in 1923 many things have changed. His friends have not forgotten his poetic processing of colors. In addition, the Surrealists consider him as one of their precursors, a pioneer in dream art.
Events had dispersed the oil paintings and gouaches of Chagall. To maintain his reputation, he remade by memory his most significant pre-war works. He was strongly encouraged by Vollard with whom he developed some series of prints.
The performance of the circus was more than entertainment for Chagall. He viewed it as a theatrical counterpart of the Hasidic use to preach joy. Same applies to dance and music. Throughout his life his art is populated with acrobats, violinists, circus animals and attending crowds.
On May 8, 2013, Christie's sold Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the replica of a lost painting.
The can-can dancing girl plays the lead, ready to twirl, and looking at us with a friendly smile. Farther, the two men are waiting their turn, peacefully. The colors are cheerful and the details include pleasant surprises such as the continuity of motifs between suit and stocking or the funny ghost animal installed on the shoulder of a man.
This painting is not surreal, it is simply a masterpiece of poetic and candid art in a dramatic staging that Marc considered as similar to religious art. It was sold for $ 13M from a lower estimate of $ 6M, lot 40. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1928 Les Amoureux
2017 SOLD for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's
In his first long stay in Paris from 1910 to 1914, Marc Chagall admired the joyous city under the protection of its benefactor totem, the Eiffel Tower.
The following years were very hard, but his return to Paris in 1923 with his wife Bella opens to this hypersensitive artist the happiest period of his life. His little family now lives in comfort thanks to a contract with the dealer Bernheim-Jeune and to the projects of illustrations undertaken with Vollard.
Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.5M from a lower estimate of $ 12M Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted by Marc in 1928, lot 8.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
Few figurative artists managed to express a perfect happiness. On February 2, 2016, Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm painted in 1928, was sold for £ 7M by Christie's on February 2, 2016, lot 24.
The title is nice. Marc had married his muse thirteen years earlier but their couple in the lower right of the image retains the freshness of tenderly embraced newlyweds. Both gaze out towards the viewer while their daughter Ida aged 12 flies with her angel wings through a window to present to her parents a big bouquet of flowers.
Paris provided them the happiness and the colors are joyous. The Eiffel Tower is viewed beyond the gently animated green lawn of the Champ de Mars. The surrealism in the manner of Chagall is included : behind the Tower, trees float like clouds, bringing an additional lightness to this romantic composition.
The following years were very hard, but his return to Paris in 1923 with his wife Bella opens to this hypersensitive artist the happiest period of his life. His little family now lives in comfort thanks to a contract with the dealer Bernheim-Jeune and to the projects of illustrations undertaken with Vollard.
Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.5M from a lower estimate of $ 12M Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted by Marc in 1928, lot 8.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
Few figurative artists managed to express a perfect happiness. On February 2, 2016, Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm painted in 1928, was sold for £ 7M by Christie's on February 2, 2016, lot 24.
The title is nice. Marc had married his muse thirteen years earlier but their couple in the lower right of the image retains the freshness of tenderly embraced newlyweds. Both gaze out towards the viewer while their daughter Ida aged 12 flies with her angel wings through a window to present to her parents a big bouquet of flowers.
Paris provided them the happiness and the colors are joyous. The Eiffel Tower is viewed beyond the gently animated green lawn of the Champ de Mars. The surrealism in the manner of Chagall is included : behind the Tower, trees float like clouds, bringing an additional lightness to this romantic composition.
1939 Les Trois Cierges
2017 SOLD for $ 14.6M by Christie's
At the end of the 1930s the Nazis made themselves increasingly involved in French affairs. As early as 1937 they criticized the poetic art of the Belorussian immigrant Marc Chagall with his continuous evocations of Judaism and his characters floating in the air.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
On May 15, 2017, Christie's sold for $ 14.6M from a lower estimate of $ 8M Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major element in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
On May 15, 2017, Christie's sold for $ 14.6M from a lower estimate of $ 8M Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major element in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
1939 Le Violoncelliste
2014 SOLD for £ 7M by Sotheby's
Marc Chagall is the artist of his poetic dreams inspired by his Jewish childhood. Le Violoniste, painted in Paris in 1912-1913, features a full frontal oversized fiddler flying in the air surrounded by small houses evoking Vitebsk. This street musician has a dark green face. The right foot just over a roof will inspire in 1964 a Broadway musical. That original plundered version has survived. It is now kept by the Stedelijk Museum.
During the first world war, Chagall lost most of his art although some of the works were not destroyed. They were together constituting his own world. Back in Paris in the 1920s, he managed to recreate his most significant themes. Doing it by memory, he brought significant changes. A 1926 replica of Les Trois Acrobates was sold for $ 13M by Christie's in 2013.
A new Violoniste is painted in 1923-1924. The re-arranged cityscape is not untidy. The feet of the green fiddler are posed on two roofs. A raised donkey appealed by the music is a symbol of the artist.
The version painted in 1928-1929, now titled Musicien, is also much modified. The fiddler is now a white bearded old man. His light green face is a more pleasant color and is cleverly opposed by the crimson violet of the coat. This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 6.9M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 31.
Le Violoncelliste was painted in dense colors in 1939. The handsome standing cellist is full size of the picture. His feet out of field are certainly on the ground. Beside him the seated donkey selfie plays a tiny violin with a raised smiling head. The Vitebsk cityscape is much detailed.
The cellist has two faces, possibly inspired by the dual angle in Picasso's portraits, for altogether looking straight and sideways. His instrument takes the size and shape of his body in a similar surrealist experience as the two bodies in Les Jours Gigantesques by Magritte. The scenery is well lit below a night sky. He appears concerned, certainly by the threat of war : Chagall moved from Paris to the Val de Loire in that year.
This oil on canvas 100 x 74 cm was sold for £ 7M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 46.
During the first world war, Chagall lost most of his art although some of the works were not destroyed. They were together constituting his own world. Back in Paris in the 1920s, he managed to recreate his most significant themes. Doing it by memory, he brought significant changes. A 1926 replica of Les Trois Acrobates was sold for $ 13M by Christie's in 2013.
A new Violoniste is painted in 1923-1924. The re-arranged cityscape is not untidy. The feet of the green fiddler are posed on two roofs. A raised donkey appealed by the music is a symbol of the artist.
The version painted in 1928-1929, now titled Musicien, is also much modified. The fiddler is now a white bearded old man. His light green face is a more pleasant color and is cleverly opposed by the crimson violet of the coat. This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold for $ 6.9M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 31.
Le Violoncelliste was painted in dense colors in 1939. The handsome standing cellist is full size of the picture. His feet out of field are certainly on the ground. Beside him the seated donkey selfie plays a tiny violin with a raised smiling head. The Vitebsk cityscape is much detailed.
The cellist has two faces, possibly inspired by the dual angle in Picasso's portraits, for altogether looking straight and sideways. His instrument takes the size and shape of his body in a similar surrealist experience as the two bodies in Les Jours Gigantesques by Magritte. The scenery is well lit below a night sky. He appears concerned, certainly by the threat of war : Chagall moved from Paris to the Val de Loire in that year.
This oil on canvas 100 x 74 cm was sold for £ 7M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 46.
1943 Le Jongleur
2022 SOLD for £ 8.9M by Christie's
Threatened by the anti-Jewish persecutions, Marc and Bella Chagall moved to New York City in 1941 after 18 years in France. Trying to escape his distress in a foreign country of which he did not speak the language, he lived close to the Jewish immigrant communities and entertained the most joyful of his themes, the circus.
Le Jongleur, painted in 1943, is an aggregation of scenes in various scales in Marc's signature style in bold colors.
The dominant figure is a winged juggler, dancing with a raised leg. He has the raised head of a rooster with a smiling beak and a friendly vivid gaze. The other characters include a ballerina in wedding dress, a woman riding a horse in the arena surrounded by the audience, and an equine head. A fiddler is cartouched on the jacket of the performer. The clock in the juggler's hand is a usual symbol of time which is nevertheless uncommon in Chagall's art.
This oil on canvas 110 x 79 cm was sold for £ 8.9M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 55.
Marc painted in the same year his Yellow Crucifixion, a Jewish staging of Jesus's Passion amidst symbols of the Holocaust. Marc's distress went into despair in 1944 after Bella's untimely death in New York.
Le Jongleur, painted in 1943, is an aggregation of scenes in various scales in Marc's signature style in bold colors.
The dominant figure is a winged juggler, dancing with a raised leg. He has the raised head of a rooster with a smiling beak and a friendly vivid gaze. The other characters include a ballerina in wedding dress, a woman riding a horse in the arena surrounded by the audience, and an equine head. A fiddler is cartouched on the jacket of the performer. The clock in the juggler's hand is a usual symbol of time which is nevertheless uncommon in Chagall's art.
This oil on canvas 110 x 79 cm was sold for £ 8.9M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 55.
Marc painted in the same year his Yellow Crucifixion, a Jewish staging of Jesus's Passion amidst symbols of the Holocaust. Marc's distress went into despair in 1944 after Bella's untimely death in New York.
1949 Le Soleil Rouge
2025 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Christie's
While they were in exile in New York in wartime, his adored wife Bella suddenly dies of a virus. Marc Chagall is desperate. Virginia, 28 years younger than Marc, bears him a son in 1946. That new built family returned in 1948 to France where they were re-united with Marc's daughter Ida.
Painted in 1949, La Belle Rousse, also known as Les Cheveux Rouges, displays their embracing couple behind an opulent bouquet of flowers, a frequent conjunction of themes in Marc's oeuvre of which the 1928 Les Amoureux, sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's in 2017, is a great example.
Virginia has a long hair in a saturated deep red. She is wearing an elegant worldly dress which is not a bridal gown, a symbol that Marc reserved for Bella. In real life Marc and Virginia, who did not follow the same religion, will not marry. The bouquet in a vase marks their declaration of love.
Marc's signature elements appear in small scale at the edges : the full Moon and, on the lower left, the smiling donkey's head associated with the violin.
This oil on canvas 115 x 90 cm was sold for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 49A.
Painted in 1949, La Belle Rousse, also known as Les Cheveux Rouges, displays their embracing couple behind an opulent bouquet of flowers, a frequent conjunction of themes in Marc's oeuvre of which the 1928 Les Amoureux, sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's in 2017, is a great example.
Virginia has a long hair in a saturated deep red. She is wearing an elegant worldly dress which is not a bridal gown, a symbol that Marc reserved for Bella. In real life Marc and Virginia, who did not follow the same religion, will not marry. The bouquet in a vase marks their declaration of love.
Marc's signature elements appear in small scale at the edges : the full Moon and, on the lower left, the smiling donkey's head associated with the violin.
This oil on canvas 115 x 90 cm was sold for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 49A.
Le Soleil Rouge, also known as Le Soleil des Amoureux, oil on canvas 140 x 98 cm painted by Chagall in 1949, was sold for $ 10.5M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Christie's on November 17, 2025, lot 26A.
Virginia leaves Marc in 1952. Three months later, Marc marries Vava who had been introduced to him by Ida.
Immediate post sale thought by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 18
Marc Chagall’s ‘Le soleil rouge ou Le soleil des amoureux’ from Property from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art achieves USD $10,525,000 in tonight’s 20th Century Evening Sale. Follow along: https://youtube.com/live/hS_RHd9Sg6o?si=QSwZT6A2UN2S8OTO…
Asking Grok to compare Le Soleil Rouge with La Belle Rousse, sold by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 49A.
Comparison of Marc Chagall's Le Soleil Rouge ou Le Soleil des Amoureux (1949) and La Belle Rousse ou Les Cheveux Rouges (1949)
Both paintings are quintessential examples of Marc Chagall's post-World War II oeuvre, created during a period of profound personal transition and renewal. Having fled Nazi-occupied France for the United States in 1941, Chagall grappled with the death of his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, in 1944, while beginning a new relationship with Virginia Haggard McNeil. This era marked a shift toward vibrant, dreamlike compositions infused with themes of love, memory, and resurrection—often blending ethereal figures from his Russian-Jewish heritage with surreal, floating elements. The two works, both oil on canvas and executed in 1949, share striking similarities in style, motif, and emotional resonance, yet diverge in specific iconography and market performance. Below is a structured comparison:
Key Iconography
Soleil Rouge : Central embracing lovers float beneath a dominant red sun, symbolizing passion and cosmic renewal; surrounded by dreamlike figures, animals (e.g., birds, fish), and blooming flowers evoking fertility and exile's hope. The red sun acts as a radiant, unifying force amid post-war fragmentation.
Belle Rousse : A female figure (likely inspired by Virginia Haggard, representing sensual love) with flowing red hair embraces a male counterpart; a massive floral bouquet dominates the composition, merging with the couple to embody romantic union. Subtle bridal veils nod to Bella's spiritual legacy, contrasting the earthly sensuality.
Thematic Focus
Soleil Rouge : ove as transcendent and solar—red sun evokes apocalyptic renewal (post-Holocaust) and eternal bonds, with floating motifs suggesting escape from earthly strife into a fantastical idyll.
Belle Rousse : Love as dualistic: sensual (red-haired muse) and spiritual (floral/brides motifs), poetically conjoining Chagall's muses Bella and Virginia to heal personal grief through abundance and harmony.
Artistic Style
Soleil Rouge : Surrealist dreamscape with bold Fauvist colors (vibrant reds, blues); fluid forms defy gravity, blending Cubist fragmentation with folkloric whimsy—hallmark Chagall poetics of memory and myth.
Belle Rousse : Similar surreal-Fauvist palette (rich reds, greens); more grounded yet buoyant composition, with intertwined figures and bouquet creating a lyrical "bouquet of love," emphasizing tactile, blooming vitality over cosmic expanse.
Provenance and Exhibition History
Soleil Rouge : From the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Japan (deaccessioned); exhibited in major retrospectives, underscoring its role in Chagall's American exile narrative.
Belle Rousse : Passed through prestigious dealers like Galerie Maeght (Paris) and Perls Galleries (New York); featured in 1950s European tours (e.g., Hamburg Kunstverein), highlighting early post-war acclaim.
Auction Details
Soleil Rouge : Sold at Christie's New York, 20th Century Evening Sale, November 17, 2025 ; realized $10.5 million (meeting high estimate of $10 million), reflecting strong Modernist demand in a recovering global market.
Belle Rousse : Sold at Christie's New York (likely Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale), May 13, 2019, lot 49A; realized approximately $4.5 million (estimate $4–6 million), buoyed by Chagall's enduring appeal amid rising interest in figurative Surrealism.
Market Context
Soleil Rouge : Higher price signals inflation in blue-chip Modern art (up ~133% from 2019 equivalent), driven by institutional deaccessions and Asian collector interest; total sale exceeded $689 million.
Belle Rousse : Strong result in a pre-pandemic boom, but undervalued relative to peers; provenance from elite galleries added premium.
In essence, these companion pieces from 1949 encapsulate Chagall's resilient romanticism: Le Soleil Rouge radiates celestial hope through its solar embrace, while La Belle Rousse grounds that hope in floral, corporeal tenderness. Their shared motifs—lovers, red accents, surreal levity—reveal Chagall's obsession with love as antidote to loss, yet the former's cosmic scope commands greater auction fervor today. Both affirm his status as a bridge between Eastern folklore and Western modernism, with values appreciating amid renewed appreciation for narrative-driven works in turbulent times.
Virginia leaves Marc in 1952. Three months later, Marc marries Vava who had been introduced to him by Ida.
Immediate post sale thought by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 18
Marc Chagall’s ‘Le soleil rouge ou Le soleil des amoureux’ from Property from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art achieves USD $10,525,000 in tonight’s 20th Century Evening Sale. Follow along: https://youtube.com/live/hS_RHd9Sg6o?si=QSwZT6A2UN2S8OTO…
- Christie's post announces the $10.5 million sale of Marc Chagall's 1949 oil painting "Le soleil rouge ou Le soleil des amoureux," meeting its high estimate of $10 million in the November 17, 2025, 20th Century Evening Sale.
- Created during Chagall's U.S. exile post-World War II, the surreal work depicts embracing lovers under a red sun amid floating figures, animals, and flowers, evoking themes of love and renewal in a dreamlike style.
- Sourced from Japan's Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art deaccession, it contributed to the sale's $689 million total, highlighting strong demand for Modernist masterpieces amid global art market recovery.
Asking Grok to compare Le Soleil Rouge with La Belle Rousse, sold by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 49A.
Comparison of Marc Chagall's Le Soleil Rouge ou Le Soleil des Amoureux (1949) and La Belle Rousse ou Les Cheveux Rouges (1949)
Both paintings are quintessential examples of Marc Chagall's post-World War II oeuvre, created during a period of profound personal transition and renewal. Having fled Nazi-occupied France for the United States in 1941, Chagall grappled with the death of his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, in 1944, while beginning a new relationship with Virginia Haggard McNeil. This era marked a shift toward vibrant, dreamlike compositions infused with themes of love, memory, and resurrection—often blending ethereal figures from his Russian-Jewish heritage with surreal, floating elements. The two works, both oil on canvas and executed in 1949, share striking similarities in style, motif, and emotional resonance, yet diverge in specific iconography and market performance. Below is a structured comparison:
Key Iconography
Soleil Rouge : Central embracing lovers float beneath a dominant red sun, symbolizing passion and cosmic renewal; surrounded by dreamlike figures, animals (e.g., birds, fish), and blooming flowers evoking fertility and exile's hope. The red sun acts as a radiant, unifying force amid post-war fragmentation.
Belle Rousse : A female figure (likely inspired by Virginia Haggard, representing sensual love) with flowing red hair embraces a male counterpart; a massive floral bouquet dominates the composition, merging with the couple to embody romantic union. Subtle bridal veils nod to Bella's spiritual legacy, contrasting the earthly sensuality.
Thematic Focus
Soleil Rouge : ove as transcendent and solar—red sun evokes apocalyptic renewal (post-Holocaust) and eternal bonds, with floating motifs suggesting escape from earthly strife into a fantastical idyll.
Belle Rousse : Love as dualistic: sensual (red-haired muse) and spiritual (floral/brides motifs), poetically conjoining Chagall's muses Bella and Virginia to heal personal grief through abundance and harmony.
Artistic Style
Soleil Rouge : Surrealist dreamscape with bold Fauvist colors (vibrant reds, blues); fluid forms defy gravity, blending Cubist fragmentation with folkloric whimsy—hallmark Chagall poetics of memory and myth.
Belle Rousse : Similar surreal-Fauvist palette (rich reds, greens); more grounded yet buoyant composition, with intertwined figures and bouquet creating a lyrical "bouquet of love," emphasizing tactile, blooming vitality over cosmic expanse.
Provenance and Exhibition History
Soleil Rouge : From the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Japan (deaccessioned); exhibited in major retrospectives, underscoring its role in Chagall's American exile narrative.
Belle Rousse : Passed through prestigious dealers like Galerie Maeght (Paris) and Perls Galleries (New York); featured in 1950s European tours (e.g., Hamburg Kunstverein), highlighting early post-war acclaim.
Auction Details
Soleil Rouge : Sold at Christie's New York, 20th Century Evening Sale, November 17, 2025 ; realized $10.5 million (meeting high estimate of $10 million), reflecting strong Modernist demand in a recovering global market.
Belle Rousse : Sold at Christie's New York (likely Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale), May 13, 2019, lot 49A; realized approximately $4.5 million (estimate $4–6 million), buoyed by Chagall's enduring appeal amid rising interest in figurative Surrealism.
Market Context
Soleil Rouge : Higher price signals inflation in blue-chip Modern art (up ~133% from 2019 equivalent), driven by institutional deaccessions and Asian collector interest; total sale exceeded $689 million.
Belle Rousse : Strong result in a pre-pandemic boom, but undervalued relative to peers; provenance from elite galleries added premium.
In essence, these companion pieces from 1949 encapsulate Chagall's resilient romanticism: Le Soleil Rouge radiates celestial hope through its solar embrace, while La Belle Rousse grounds that hope in floral, corporeal tenderness. Their shared motifs—lovers, red accents, surreal levity—reveal Chagall's obsession with love as antidote to loss, yet the former's cosmic scope commands greater auction fervor today. Both affirm his status as a bridge between Eastern folklore and Western modernism, with values appreciating amid renewed appreciation for narrative-driven works in turbulent times.
1956 Le Grand Cirque
2017 SOLD for $ 16M by Sotheby's
The passion of Marc Chagall for the circus dates back to his Jewish childhood in Vitebsk. The clever Ambroise Vollard transferred his craze to Paris, where Marc and Bella were residing since 1923. Vollard had a private box at the Cirque d'Hiver where he frequently invited Chagall from 1927.
Back in France from 1948, Chagall revisited the Cirque d'Hiver in 1955 while a movie was being filmed. This visit reactivated his entrancement for the circus. From his many sketches therein, he prepared a monumental painting which is arguably his masterpiece on that theme.
Le Grand Cirque, oil and gouache on canvas 160 x 310 cm painted in 1956, was sold by Sotheby's for $ 13.8M on May 8, 2007, lot 40, and for $ 16M on November 14, 2017, lot 48.
In a blue dominant, it features several brightly lit performers and acrobats over an orchestra in the pit, and with the crowd of attendants in the rows.
Back in France from 1948, Chagall revisited the Cirque d'Hiver in 1955 while a movie was being filmed. This visit reactivated his entrancement for the circus. From his many sketches therein, he prepared a monumental painting which is arguably his masterpiece on that theme.
Le Grand Cirque, oil and gouache on canvas 160 x 310 cm painted in 1956, was sold by Sotheby's for $ 13.8M on May 8, 2007, lot 40, and for $ 16M on November 14, 2017, lot 48.
In a blue dominant, it features several brightly lit performers and acrobats over an orchestra in the pit, and with the crowd of attendants in the rows.
1966 Le Songe du Roi David
2025 SOLD for $ 26.5M by Christie's
Le Songe du Roi David, oil, tempera and sawdust on canvas 208 x 276 cm painted by Chagall in 1966, was sold for $ 26.5M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on November 17, 2025, lot 25A.
Chagall wanted to be an illustrator. His great project sponsored by Vollard for the Bible was interrupted by war and exile. Afterward he executed a myriad of gouaches and paintings depicting Kings, Prophets, angelic beings and other characters from Biblical stories, allegorical objects and symbolic motifs. These would resurface in his paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, on a much larger scale that evoked murals or stained glass windows.
Israel's King David dreamed of building a temple for God, but believed God did not want his blood-stained hands to do that (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:2-6). Instead, he gathered the materials and treasure needed for the task. Then he charged his son, Solomon, to be brave and build the awe-inspiring Jerusalem Temple.
Here, under David’s watchful gaze, a dynamic cast of characters gather to celebrate the union of a bride and groom holding a child. Alongside the crowd, a series of vignettes hover along the edge of the canvas, suggesting different stories, legends and memories, while in the upper right corner the artist at his easel gazes across the scene. A cluster of buildings include small domestic dwellings from Chagall’s childhood at Vitebsk alongside a form of the Eiffel Tower.
Asking Grok to define the significance of this painting in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
"Le Songe du Roi David" (The Dream of King David), painted in 1966, is a monumental work by Marc Chagall that exemplifies his late-career engagement with biblical themes on an epic scale. Measuring over 81 x 108 inches, the painting uses oil, tempera, and sawdust on canvas to depict a dreamlike vision of the biblical figure King David, infused with Chagall's signature fantastical elements such as floating figures, vibrant colors, animals, and references to his Jewish heritage and personal memories. This large-format composition represents a culmination of Chagall's lifelong exploration of religious narratives, which he began illustrating in earnest during the 1930s with his Bible etchings, but revisited in his later years through vividly colored, immersive canvases that blend mythology, folklore, and autobiography.
In Chagall's oeuvre, King David often symbolized the artist himself—as a poet, musician, and visionary—drawing parallels between the biblical king's triumphs and Chagall's own artistic journey from his Russian-Jewish roots to international acclaim. Created when Chagall was 79, "Le Songe du Roi David" demonstrates his undiminished creativity and technical innovation in his mature period, employing the grandeur of history painting traditions to convey intimate, surreal interpretations of scripture. The work's immediate exhibition in major venues like the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1967, and its inclusion in retrospectives focused on his biblical paintings from 1966-1976, underscore its recognition as a key piece in his late biblical cycle, bridging his early modernist experiments with his final decades of spiritual and dream-infused artistry.
Chagall wanted to be an illustrator. His great project sponsored by Vollard for the Bible was interrupted by war and exile. Afterward he executed a myriad of gouaches and paintings depicting Kings, Prophets, angelic beings and other characters from Biblical stories, allegorical objects and symbolic motifs. These would resurface in his paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, on a much larger scale that evoked murals or stained glass windows.
Israel's King David dreamed of building a temple for God, but believed God did not want his blood-stained hands to do that (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:2-6). Instead, he gathered the materials and treasure needed for the task. Then he charged his son, Solomon, to be brave and build the awe-inspiring Jerusalem Temple.
Here, under David’s watchful gaze, a dynamic cast of characters gather to celebrate the union of a bride and groom holding a child. Alongside the crowd, a series of vignettes hover along the edge of the canvas, suggesting different stories, legends and memories, while in the upper right corner the artist at his easel gazes across the scene. A cluster of buildings include small domestic dwellings from Chagall’s childhood at Vitebsk alongside a form of the Eiffel Tower.
Asking Grok to define the significance of this painting in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
"Le Songe du Roi David" (The Dream of King David), painted in 1966, is a monumental work by Marc Chagall that exemplifies his late-career engagement with biblical themes on an epic scale. Measuring over 81 x 108 inches, the painting uses oil, tempera, and sawdust on canvas to depict a dreamlike vision of the biblical figure King David, infused with Chagall's signature fantastical elements such as floating figures, vibrant colors, animals, and references to his Jewish heritage and personal memories. This large-format composition represents a culmination of Chagall's lifelong exploration of religious narratives, which he began illustrating in earnest during the 1930s with his Bible etchings, but revisited in his later years through vividly colored, immersive canvases that blend mythology, folklore, and autobiography.
In Chagall's oeuvre, King David often symbolized the artist himself—as a poet, musician, and visionary—drawing parallels between the biblical king's triumphs and Chagall's own artistic journey from his Russian-Jewish roots to international acclaim. Created when Chagall was 79, "Le Songe du Roi David" demonstrates his undiminished creativity and technical innovation in his mature period, employing the grandeur of history painting traditions to convey intimate, surreal interpretations of scripture. The work's immediate exhibition in major venues like the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1967, and its inclusion in retrospectives focused on his biblical paintings from 1966-1976, underscore its recognition as a key piece in his late biblical cycle, bridging his early modernist experiments with his final decades of spiritual and dream-infused artistry.
