Marc Chagall

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (acquired by 1945)

John S. Newberry, Jr., Grosse Point (acquired by 1946)

Mr. & Mrs. Albert A. List, New York

Wildenstein & Co., New York

Acquired from the above in 1976

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Marc Chagall, 1944, no. 9, illustrated on the cover of the catalogue

New York, The Museum of Modern Art & Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chagall, 1946-47, no. 57

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, A Loan Exhibition of French Paintings: XVII-XX Centuries, 1947, n. n.

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne & Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Marc Chagall, 1947-48, no. 55

Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Intimates and Confidants in Art, 1993, n.n.

Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Town and Country: In Pursuit of Life's Pleasures, 1996, n.n.

Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Marc Chagall, 1998, n.n.

Lionello Venturi, Marc Chagall, New York, 1945, illustrated pl. LXI

Michel Georges-Michel, Chefs-d'oeuvres de peintres contemporains, New York, 1945, illustrated

James Johnson Sweeney, "Eleven Europeans in America," Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, September 1946, illustrated p. 33

A. Humbert, "L'Exposition Marc Chagall," Bulletin des Musées de France, December 1947, illustrated p. 19

Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, New York, 1963, no. 734, illustrated p. 682

This work is in good condition. Painting has been lined over a new stretcher in order to extend the canvas an inch on either vertical side and a quarter inch along the horizontal edges. Faint crackle pattern is visible over the horse's neck. Spider web crackle pattern to the right of the male figure's arm and very faint crackle pattern visible at bottom edge. Under UV light the bottom portions of the moon have been inpainted, and along the extreme left and right edges old tackholes have been inpainted, covered by the frame. Scattered pindots of inpainting are visible along the left edge and center bottom of the composition. Three nail-head sized spots of inpainting on the rooster's back and wing. One small area of inpainting in the upper right corner.
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.

Painted in 1944 when Chagall was living in exile in the United States, Coq rouge dans la nuit is an exquisite example of Chagall's dream-like imagery and color. The cockerel, lovers and violin are key elements of his iconography, appearing again and again throughout his oeuvre, wistfully recalling the folkloric traditions of his childhood in Russia. Unlike the Surrealists who used painting to dramatize the confrontational and disturbing potential of the subconscious, Chagall found an affinity between painting and dreaming through which he was able to articulate the deepest desires of his heart: "Painting seemed to me like a window through which I could have taken flight toward another world" (quoted in Susan Compton, Chagall, London, 1985, p. 20).

As such, Chagall's paintings defy symbolic meaning and categorization. In particular, his dreamscapes resist interpretation despite the ubiquity of repeated pictorial symbols; through repetition they become both familiar and are manifestations of a rich and colorful imagination that can be understood not through intellect but through intuition. As the artist himself proclaimed: "For me a picture is a surface covered with representations of things (objects, animals, human beings) in a certain order in which logic and illustration have no importance. The visual effect of the composition is what is paramount" (quoted in ibid., p. 21). This joy of creation and the artistic freedom of interpretation reflect Chagall's confidence in his style and technique and his deeply subjective approach to painting. With its fanciful, dream-like composition, the painting becomes an expression of the artist's internal universe rather than an objective projection of the outside world.