Marc Chagall

Private Collection, Japan
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 2000

The work is in excellent condition. Executed on cream wove paper. The sheet is affixed to a mat at several places around the perimeter on the verso. The edges of the sheet are deckled. There is undulation throughout as a result of the thickly applied medium. The colors are extremely bright and fresh.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Le Peintre et la crucifixion is a wonderful example of Chagall’s unique and visionary aesthetic—one which combines rich imagery with his passion for color. The iconography of the present work is replete with images that are ubiquitous in Chagall’s oeuvre. Central to the composition is the artist himself holding his palette standing with a woman dressed as a bride in a white gown. The presence of a bride in the present 1968 composition is a poignant evocation of Chagall’s happy marriage of thirty-five years to his late wife Bella until her untimely death in 1944. The work is at once nostalgic and tender, unifying an ode to young love with a sense of melancholy and longing. Chagall’s personal suffering is underscored by the depiction of the crucifixion on the artist’s canvas, which hovers beneath a landscape of provincial houses that are strongly reminiscent to those in his rural, native home, Vitebsk.

The bittersweet imagery recalls what Chagall once wrote to an old friend Daniel Charny in New York, shortly after his seventieth birthday: “Life is always beautiful even though it is sad: good people and some close to us leave us” (quoted in Jackie Wullschlager, Chagall, Love and Exile, London, 2008, p. 488).