Marc Chagall

Executed on laid paper, laid down on board. The upper, lower and left edges are deckled. There are 8 artist's pinholes at all 4 corners and in the centre of each edges. There are 2 very minor tears in the centre of the left and right edges. There are 3 very small paint losses in the flowers and one in the fruit basket. Apart from some surface scratches mostly located on the pot, this work is in good condition.
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signed 'Chagall Marc' and dated '1939' (lower left), gouache on paper. Executed in 1939.

Fig. 1, Henri Matisse, Ananas et anémones, 1940, huiles sur toile, Collection particulière

 

Peu après l'arrivée du peintre à Paris en 1923, les fleurs deviennent progressivement un motif central et récurrent dans l'oeuvre de Chagall. A cet égard, cette Nature morte aux fleurs et fruits exécutée en 1939 s'inscrit pleinement dans les thématiques qui lui sont chères.

La palette vaporeuse et claire de la composition, la touche impressionniste qui la caractérise sont autant de qualités qui attestent le désir de l'artiste émigré d'assimiler la culture française. A l'instar de Renoir, Bonnard, Vuillard, Monet, Matisse, il explore le genre traditionnel de la nature morte tout en développant une esthétique singulière, qualifiée de "nouvelle réalité irréelle" par Raymond Cogniat (Raymond Cogniat, Chagall, Paris, 1977, p. 39).   Par le biais d'une vue en contreplongée, il provoque un nouveau sentiment de l'espace et parvient, tout en intégrant les préoccupations des artistes de son temps, à créer un univers qui lui est propre, intime et poétique.

 

From the outset, flowers were a recurring motif in Chagall's oeuvre, and soon after the painter arrived in Paris in 1923, they began to play a central role in his compositions. This work, Nature morte aux fleurs et fruits, painted in 1939, is thus part of a thematic that was dear to the artist

The airy, light palette and the impressionist feel of this composition is in keeping with the artist's desire to assimilate French culture while at the same time creating his own individual visual universe.  Following in the footsteps of Renoir, Bonnard, Vuillard, Monet and Matisse, the artist explores the traditional genre of the still life all the while developing a unique aesthetic, described as "new unreal reality" by Raymond Cogniat (Raymond Cogniat, Chagall, Paris, 1977, p; 39). Creating a new feeling of space by using a low angle perspective, the artist tries to create an intimate world of his own design, whilst nevertheless incorporating the concerns of artists of his era.