Marc Chagall

Private Collection, Europe
Acquired from the above by the present owner

The board is sound. Under UV light, some pigments fluoresce and there are no apparent signs of retouching. The work appears to be in good original condition. Colours: Fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, although the yellow tones are slightly more vibrant in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Les Musiciens, executed circa 1975, combines some of Chagall's most emblematic components, adding to the whimsical atmosphere that characterises the artist's most successful works. The scene is composed of a floating fiddler and goat in the left quadrant, a man-goat hybrid in the central foreground, and figures that are spatially disproportionate: all quintessential elements of Chagall's oeuvre. Amid this dream-like composition, glimpses of reality shine through: the rural town in the background, perhaps adopted from Chagall's childhood memories from Vitebsk, and the dominant woman figure in the foreground borrowed from Chagall's memory of his second wife, Vava Brodsky. Franz Meyer writes: 'The subject of his picture remains a fragment of copies or imagined reality - a chair, a triangle, or an old wall – but it never becomes an image of reality as a whole' (Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, New York, 1963 p. 18).