Marc Chagall

Galerie Maeght, Paris
Marcel Bernheim, Paris
Sale: Christie's, London, June 26, 1989, lot 62
Sale: Christie's, London, November 28, 1995, lot 49
Private Collection, Europe (and sold: Christie's, London, June 30, 1999, lot 531)
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 277
Galerie von Vertes, Zurich
Acquired from the above on February 7, 2002

This work is in excellent condition. Canvas is unlined and the surface retains a rich and textured impasto. Under UV light a few tiny pindots of inpainting fluoresce to the left of the vase as well as a few very thin strokes of inpainting to address prior frame abrasion, notably at upper edge toward right and along upper part of right edge, otherwise fine.
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.

Chagall’s enchanting Le Peintre  is an evocative dream-like vision, a composition that captures some of the artist’s most emblematic motifs and illustrates his passion for color and light. Painted in his later years, Le Peintre stems from a time when the artist was nostalgic for his youth while celebrating the joyful and tranquil life he made in Saint-Paul-de-Vence with his wife Valentina Brodsky. A vibrant bouquet of flowers rises above the cityscape, a motif which Chagall had employed since the 1920s, once saying the flowers represented his adopted home country of France. These beautiful flowering patches of rich crimson reds, pure whites and bright yellows surround this beloved Côte d’Azur town, where Chagall lived from 1950-73, later to be buried there in 1985.

Chagall found a strong affinity between painting and dreaming, themes beautifully reflected in this composition. An all-encompassing blue sapphire pigment sets the ethereal stage, meanwhile emphasizing the artist’s pictorial iconography, including the floating figures, bouquets and artist painting a couple. Picasso, who lived near Chagall during his years in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, once spoke to Francoise Gilot of his palette: “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color is… His canvases are really painted, not just tossed together. Some of the last things he’s done in Vence convince me that there’s never been anybody since Renoir who has the feeling for light that Chagall has” (quoted in Francoise Gilot, Life with Picasso, New York, 1989, p. 282).

In reference to Chagall’s output from this period, the artist’s biographer Franz Meyer writes, “The light, the vegetation, the rhythm of life all contributed to the rise of a more relaxed airy, sensuous style in which the magic of colour dominates more and more with the passing years. At Vence he witnessed the daily miracle of growth and blossoming in the mild, strong all-pervading light—an experience in which earth and matter had their place” (Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, London, 1964, p. 519).