Marc Chagall

Galerie Maeght, Paris

Galerie Pétridès, Paris

Private Collection

Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière, Paris

Acquired from the above

Original canvas. The thick impasto is intact. Apart from one small spot of inpainting at the lower left corner, this work is in excellent original condition.
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Throughout his career, Marc Chagall consistently turned to flower painting not as rigorous studies in realism, but rather as expressive evocations of fantasy in their conflation of still-life, narrative motifs, and landscape.  Like Henri Matisse, Chagall resided in Saint-Paul-de Vence from 1950-1973 and sought to capture the splendor and luminosity of this Côte d'Azur town by experimenting with bold colors and unstructured compositions. According to Chagall's biographer Franz Meyer, "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). 

 

In Bouquet de printemps, a multi-colored bouquet of flowers erupts from a vase to fill the canvas.  The work is one of Chagall's finest late still life paintings.  It has an extreme boldness of color and dynamic energy which bespeaks the fantasy and exuberance of Chagall's own inner world.  This work is an iconographical rendering of domestic life and happiness, represented by the explosive form of the colorful bouquet and the surrounding images of Chagall's favorite themes including: a husband and wife, farm animals, and his native village of Vitebsk represented by the simple houses. 

 

At this time in Chagall's career he enjoyed much international success and recognition and was living in the hilly countryside of Saint-Paul-de Vence with his wife Vava (see Fig. 1).  Bouquet de printemps represents the artist's tranquil disposition and the beauty that he found in his surroundings and offers insight into his personal history.  The flowers of the bouquet are magnificently oversized compared with the figures, which conveys to the viewer a sense of abundance and whimsy, while the thickly painted electric red, pink, and yellow of the petals gives the work a brilliant energy.  Chagall continues using these bold colors for the goat on the lower left of the work and the cock on the upper right.  "For Chagall the animal represents harmony and contentment with the cyclic destiny of nature; the innocent acceptance of being a part of nature's great ensemble of living things" (Werner Haftmann, Chagall, New York, 1973, p.136).  He views these farm animals as creatures in harmony with nature, further adding to the message of the scene being the artist's personal utopia. 

 

Upon closer examination Chagall bring us even deeper into his inner world in the images along the edges of the canvas.  As he did in many other works at this time (see Fig. 2) Chagall employs the color blue to create a sense of mysticism, alluding to the spiritual significance that color holds in religious iconography.  The embracing couple is likely a reference to Chagall's relationship with his wife Valentine Brodsky (Vava) whom he married in 1952.  This was his second marriage after he lost his first wife, Bella, who died shortly after World War II.  In 1947, Chagall used this oversized bouquet theme with a pair of lovers to express his feelings of loss and nostalgia while he was mourning Bella.  Yet, the artist's depiction of Vava in this 1966 work seems to indicate that he has once again found domestic bliss.  But Chagall has not neglected the references to his past in this picture, namely the image of the Eiffel Tower which appears in the foreground.   This was a reference to the artist's early years in Paris, where he lived with Bella and his young daughter Ida. Chagall can be considered one of the great biographical artists of the 20th century, as he invests all of his pictures with deeply personal images from his humble past in Belarus (the rooster, for example), his splendid years in Paris, and his blissful marriage in the later years of his life.  Bouquet de printemps is a quintessential example Chagall's ability to fuse all of these references within one extraordinary composition.  

Fig. 1, Chagall with his wife Valentine (Vava) Brodsky in June 1962.  Photograph by Jacob Baal-Teshuva

Fig. 2, Marc Chagall, Les Fleurs sur Saint Jeannet, 1968-82, oil on canvas, sold: Sotheby's, London, February 7, 2006, lot 54, $3,601,426