Marc Chagall

Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne (acquired directly from the artist)
Baron Eduard von der Heydt, Italy (acquired from the above in 1949)
Acquired by the family of the present owner in the late 1960s

Lucerne, Galerie Rosengart, Chagall, 1949, no. 25

Executed on cream wove paper laid down on board. The edges of the sheet are deckled and there are artist's pinholes to all four corners. There are some areas of light rubbing, probably caused by frame rubbing, to the top right, top left and bottom left corners. Apart from spots of craquelure with some associated paint loss to areas of thick impasto this work is in good condition.
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Fleurs et fruits is a confident, dream-like composition which features some of Chagall’s most emblematic motifs and serves as an exquisite example of the artist’s creative maturity and contentment. Executed in 1949, shortly after his return from enforced exile in the United States during the war, the present work is the joyful incarnation of renewed happiness. The sombre years spent on the American continent, marked notably by the death of his beloved wife Bella, were followed by a return to optimism and the joy of life. In particular, the Mediterranean light and the colours of the Côte d’Azur deeply influenced Chagall’s art, which turned to a brighter palette including a wonderful, deep Mediterranean blue. At the heart of the present composition is an exuberant bouquet of flowers, which can be read as a signifier for Chagall’s love of live and love of France. As James Johnson Sweeney pointed out, 'It was in Toulon in 1924 that the charm of French flowers struck [Chagall] for the first time. He declares that he had never known flower bouquets in Russia or, at least, that they were not as frequent as in France. He says that when he paints a bouquet it is like painting a landscape. It is France for him.' (in Marc Chagall, New York, 1946, p. 56).