Marc CHAGALL (1887-1985)
See also : Eastern Europe Man and woman Self portrait Self portrait II Modern prints
Chronology : 1920-1929 1923 1926 1928 1929 1939 1956
Chronology : 1920-1929 1923 1926 1928 1929 1939 1956
1923-1924 Moi et le Village by Chagall
2020 SOLD for $ 3.3M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1926 Chagall shares the Circus
2013 SOLD 13 M$ including premium
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.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the new version 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 wonderful and candid art. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The freshness and humor of the theme pushed this painting up to $ 13M including premium. This was the nicest result of the sales of current week in New York.
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.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the new version 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 wonderful and candid art. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The freshness and humor of the theme pushed this painting up to $ 13M including premium. This was the nicest result of the sales of current week in New York.
1928 Wonderful Love
2017 SOLD for $ 28.5M including premium
Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1928 by Chagall, lot 8 estimated $ 12M.
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.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
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.
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.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
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.
1928 Under the Romantic Protection of the Eiffel Tower
2016 SOLD for £ 7M including premium
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.
Few figurative artists managed to express a perfect happiness. On February 2 in London, Christie's sells Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm painted in 1928, lot 24 estimated £ 4.8M.
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.
Few figurative artists managed to express a perfect happiness. On February 2 in London, Christie's sells Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel, oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm painted in 1928, lot 24 estimated £ 4.8M.
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.
1928-1929 Musicien by Chagall
2007 SOLD for $ 6.9M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1939 Three Candles against the War
2017 SOLD for $ 14.6M including premium
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 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A estimated $ 8M.
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 piece 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 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, lot 6 A estimated $ 8M.
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 piece 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.
1948 Chagall inspired by the Arabian Nights
2008 SOLD for $ 445K including premium by Christie's
2014 UNSOLD
PRE 2014 SALE DISCUSSION
Marc Chagall is an image maker. His illustrations of the Bible made for Vollard in 1930 are etchings embellished with gouache.
In 1948, four years after the death of Bella, Chagall was haunted by the theme of lost love. Solicited by Pantheon Books in New York, he designed his first color lithographic images, entitled Four tales from the Arabian Nights. The great series published by Tériade such as Daphnis et Chloé and le Cirque are later.
Chagall had been deeply moved by the translation of the Arabian Nights edited by Richard Burton in 1884. Explorer of Africa, Burton was one of the best connoisseurs of worldwide erotic traditions and made also published in 1883 a translation of the Kama Sutra. Considered in his time as a pornographer, he braved the Victorian England.
The Four tales series consisted of twelve plates 37 x 28 cm on 43 x 33 cm sheets. Each image is accompanied by a quote from Burton on a separate sheet. The editor had the nice idea to disperse the proofs and clichés within some copies of this edition.
On October 28 in New York, Bonhams sells one of these copies, lot 48 estimated $ 300K, with original wrappers and slipcases. In addition to the 12 images of the final version, this set includes 23 proofs, most of them for plates 5 and 9 as well as for an additional plate numbered 13.
The same set 58/90 had been sold for $ 445K including premium by Christie's on April 29, 2008, lot 54. It had been described at that time with 16 additional unnumbered proofs.
Marc Chagall is an image maker. His illustrations of the Bible made for Vollard in 1930 are etchings embellished with gouache.
In 1948, four years after the death of Bella, Chagall was haunted by the theme of lost love. Solicited by Pantheon Books in New York, he designed his first color lithographic images, entitled Four tales from the Arabian Nights. The great series published by Tériade such as Daphnis et Chloé and le Cirque are later.
Chagall had been deeply moved by the translation of the Arabian Nights edited by Richard Burton in 1884. Explorer of Africa, Burton was one of the best connoisseurs of worldwide erotic traditions and made also published in 1883 a translation of the Kama Sutra. Considered in his time as a pornographer, he braved the Victorian England.
The Four tales series consisted of twelve plates 37 x 28 cm on 43 x 33 cm sheets. Each image is accompanied by a quote from Burton on a separate sheet. The editor had the nice idea to disperse the proofs and clichés within some copies of this edition.
On October 28 in New York, Bonhams sells one of these copies, lot 48 estimated $ 300K, with original wrappers and slipcases. In addition to the 12 images of the final version, this set includes 23 proofs, most of them for plates 5 and 9 as well as for an additional plate numbered 13.
The same set 58/90 had been sold for $ 445K including premium by Christie's on April 29, 2008, lot 54. It had been described at that time with 16 additional unnumbered proofs.
Post WWII - Bouquets with Bella
2018 SOLD for $ 1.06M including premium
Marc Chagall is an artist of joy and hope. Yet the twentieth century is terrible. The holocaust annihilates the Jews and does not spare Vitebsk, the beloved hometown where he had met Bella. He is in exile in New York where Bella suddenly dies of a viral infection in 1944.
For assembling his memories Marc composes his Bouquets d'Amour which he will paint frequently from the late 1940s until the early 1960s.
A mixed technique 58 x 45 cm in gouache, crayon, pastel, oil and collage on paper laid on canvas was sold for $ 410K including premium by Sotheby's on May 9, 2007 and for $ 790K including premium by Shapiro on September 26, 2015.
This Bouquet d'Amour is estimated $ 900K for sale on March 18 in New Orleans by New Orleans Auction Galleries, lot 920. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Around the lovers everything is mixed with balance and harmony : inside and outside, the Belorussian village and the flowers from France. A dark blue dominance expresses the peaceful night. Under the huge bouquet the couple is lying for a better dream. Bella is naked and modest. The fruit basket and the free dove complete the composition. The musicians did not come.
For assembling his memories Marc composes his Bouquets d'Amour which he will paint frequently from the late 1940s until the early 1960s.
A mixed technique 58 x 45 cm in gouache, crayon, pastel, oil and collage on paper laid on canvas was sold for $ 410K including premium by Sotheby's on May 9, 2007 and for $ 790K including premium by Shapiro on September 26, 2015.
This Bouquet d'Amour is estimated $ 900K for sale on March 18 in New Orleans by New Orleans Auction Galleries, lot 920. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Around the lovers everything is mixed with balance and harmony : inside and outside, the Belorussian village and the flowers from France. A dark blue dominance expresses the peaceful night. Under the huge bouquet the couple is lying for a better dream. Bella is naked and modest. The fruit basket and the free dove complete the composition. The musicians did not come.
1956 Le Grand Cirque by Chagall
2007 SOLD for $ 13.8M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to Artvalue.
1958 Dreaming the Bible
2015 SOLD for $ 280K including premium
Born near Vitebsk in Belarus to a deeply pious Jewish family, Marc Chagall dreamed the Bible throughout his life. The Old Testament is one of the oldest poems of humanity. The artist is inspired by the fabulous stories of Genesis and by the facts and words attributed to old prophets.
Ambroise Vollard knew to generate intense artistic impulses through major publishing projects. He invited Chagall to illustrate the Bible.
This project excites the artist who performs in 1931 a trip to Palestine to find the roots of Judaism and exacerbate his vision of antique lifestyle. Later, he studied the mystical art through Rembrandt and el Greco. During this phase, Chagall prepared the first 32 plates.
He continues. His synthesis between antiquity and modernity is dramatized by the events that make him compare the persecution of the Jews with the Passion of Christ. In 1956, a quarter century after the start of the project, Chagall executes the last picture of his Bible.
Vollard died in 1939 and it was left to Tériade to print in 1958 in 100 copies the 105 views of Chagall's La Bible. The artist's work is not finished: he hand colors the images and signs his initials in pencil. The image size is 25 x 31 cm on 39 x 53 cm Arches paper.
A complete album was sold for $ 295K including premium by Christie's on 1 May 2002. Also complete, a portfolio is estimated $ 250K for sale by Bonhams in San Francisco on October 20, lot 42.
Ambroise Vollard knew to generate intense artistic impulses through major publishing projects. He invited Chagall to illustrate the Bible.
This project excites the artist who performs in 1931 a trip to Palestine to find the roots of Judaism and exacerbate his vision of antique lifestyle. Later, he studied the mystical art through Rembrandt and el Greco. During this phase, Chagall prepared the first 32 plates.
He continues. His synthesis between antiquity and modernity is dramatized by the events that make him compare the persecution of the Jews with the Passion of Christ. In 1956, a quarter century after the start of the project, Chagall executes the last picture of his Bible.
Vollard died in 1939 and it was left to Tériade to print in 1958 in 100 copies the 105 views of Chagall's La Bible. The artist's work is not finished: he hand colors the images and signs his initials in pencil. The image size is 25 x 31 cm on 39 x 53 cm Arches paper.
A complete album was sold for $ 295K including premium by Christie's on 1 May 2002. Also complete, a portfolio is estimated $ 250K for sale by Bonhams in San Francisco on October 20, lot 42.
1961 Lesbos by Chagall
2019 SOLD for £ 735K including premium
A prolific painter, Marc Chagall works extremely slowly when it comes to illustration. Two of his greatest projects, La Bible and Daphnis et Chloé, were prepared by trips to Palestine and Greece respectively, during which he immersed himself in the landscapes and the atmosphere of the country.
La Bible was started in 1931 on an incitement from Vollard. When Vollard died in 1939, Tériade took over. Chagall finishes his iconographic preparation in 1956 and the set is published in 1958.
Tériade is from Lesbos, like Sappho and Longus. He would like Chagall to interpret his country based on the pastoral novel Daphnis et Chloé, previously set to music by Ravel. Chagall first refused because Bonnard had done a similar project.
For the painter of happy love, this idyllic theme is very tempting. In 1952, five years after Bonnard's death, he captures for the first time the dazzling light of a Greek summer. He returns to Greece in 1954. He prepares a set of 42 drawings in gouache and pastel.
The print by Mourlot is a technical feat whose work spans four years, from 1957 to 1961. Chagall does not accept any mistake in the lithographic printing on Arches of the 25 colors which he had used in his quest of the poetic perfection.
Daphnis et Chloé is published in 1961 by Tériade in loose portfolio in a regular edition of 250 copies and 20 artist proofs, plus 60 deluxe copies with large margins which are signed by the artist on each sheet. 16 of the 42 images are folded double pages. The standard size of an image is 44 x 34 cm.
The sets that remain complete are rare. A complete deluxe portfolio that had been kept by Tériade's family until 1995 is estimated £ 400K for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 27, lot 345.
La Bible was started in 1931 on an incitement from Vollard. When Vollard died in 1939, Tériade took over. Chagall finishes his iconographic preparation in 1956 and the set is published in 1958.
Tériade is from Lesbos, like Sappho and Longus. He would like Chagall to interpret his country based on the pastoral novel Daphnis et Chloé, previously set to music by Ravel. Chagall first refused because Bonnard had done a similar project.
For the painter of happy love, this idyllic theme is very tempting. In 1952, five years after Bonnard's death, he captures for the first time the dazzling light of a Greek summer. He returns to Greece in 1954. He prepares a set of 42 drawings in gouache and pastel.
The print by Mourlot is a technical feat whose work spans four years, from 1957 to 1961. Chagall does not accept any mistake in the lithographic printing on Arches of the 25 colors which he had used in his quest of the poetic perfection.
Daphnis et Chloé is published in 1961 by Tériade in loose portfolio in a regular edition of 250 copies and 20 artist proofs, plus 60 deluxe copies with large margins which are signed by the artist on each sheet. 16 of the 42 images are folded double pages. The standard size of an image is 44 x 34 cm.
The sets that remain complete are rare. A complete deluxe portfolio that had been kept by Tériade's family until 1995 is estimated £ 400K for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 27, lot 345.
1966 Smiles over Vitebsk
2016 SOLD for $ 7.6M including premium
L'Hiver, oil on canvas 162 x 114 cm painted by Chagall circa 1966, was sold for £ 3.5M including premium by Christie's on June 18, 2007. It is estimated $ 7M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 16, lot 29 B.
Aged 79, the artist digs within his happy memories that are repetitive throughout his art. He is aware of it and admits not without pride that he assembles his symbols like a poet using the letters of the alphabet to create new words.
L'Hiver stages four flying figures in the night over a city that can only be Vitebsk which he had left 44 years earlier. Despite the density of the scene, the composition is much balanced thanks to a skillful staggering of the distances.
At the closest a young woman holds a large bridal bouquet. Behind her the bridegroom is a goat. The other two offer a serenade : a rooster headed man is charming the beauty with his flute while the cellist riding the goat plays his instrument with energy.
Chagall had not an easy life but in his dreamlike approach to surrealism he ever sought to express and communicate happiness. Humans and beasts are smiling.
Aged 79, the artist digs within his happy memories that are repetitive throughout his art. He is aware of it and admits not without pride that he assembles his symbols like a poet using the letters of the alphabet to create new words.
L'Hiver stages four flying figures in the night over a city that can only be Vitebsk which he had left 44 years earlier. Despite the density of the scene, the composition is much balanced thanks to a skillful staggering of the distances.
At the closest a young woman holds a large bridal bouquet. Behind her the bridegroom is a goat. The other two offer a serenade : a rooster headed man is charming the beauty with his flute while the cellist riding the goat plays his instrument with energy.
Chagall had not an easy life but in his dreamlike approach to surrealism he ever sought to express and communicate happiness. Humans and beasts are smiling.
1969 The Musical Feast of Marc Chagall
2010 SOLD 32 MHK$ including premium
Chagall never stopped painting his dream world. In 1969, he was a forever young man of 82 years, fascinated by the rhythm of life.
Bestiaire et Musique (Bestiary and Music), a large oil on canvas 140 x 155 cm, features a frantic dance of the usual characters of the mythology of the artist. Before the primordial couple of Marc and Bella, among a crowd of circus figures, the flutist is a donkey.
Dark and saturated colors are common in the art of Chagall at that time. They highlight the enormous chicken head that mystically dominates this carousel.
This painting is for sale on October 4 by Seoul Auction in Hong Kong.
Exactly one year ago, I had praised in my column the excellent initiative of this Korean auction house that comes to Hong Kong, third auction place of the world, to organize sales mixing modern art of West and East. Hirst's work that I then chose to comment was sold HK $ 15.5 million including premium.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting by Chagall was both an outstanding work and the highlight of this cosmopolitan sale. It was sold HK $ 28.5 million before fees.
Bestiaire et Musique (Bestiary and Music), a large oil on canvas 140 x 155 cm, features a frantic dance of the usual characters of the mythology of the artist. Before the primordial couple of Marc and Bella, among a crowd of circus figures, the flutist is a donkey.
Dark and saturated colors are common in the art of Chagall at that time. They highlight the enormous chicken head that mystically dominates this carousel.
This painting is for sale on October 4 by Seoul Auction in Hong Kong.
Exactly one year ago, I had praised in my column the excellent initiative of this Korean auction house that comes to Hong Kong, third auction place of the world, to organize sales mixing modern art of West and East. Hirst's work that I then chose to comment was sold HK $ 15.5 million including premium.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting by Chagall was both an outstanding work and the highlight of this cosmopolitan sale. It was sold HK $ 28.5 million before fees.
