Marc Chagall

Galleria del Milione, Milan

Galerie d'Art Moderne (Marie-Suzanne Feigel), Basel

Private Collection, Milan (acquired from the above in 1950)

By descent from the above in 1977

Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Arte Moderna in una raccolta italiana, 1953, no. 29, illustrated in the catalogue

Turin, Civica Galleria d’arte Moderna di Torino, Capolavori i Arte Moderna nelle raccolte private, 1959, no. 23, illustrated in the catalogue

Very good condition. The sheet has been laid down to a thin card which is affixed to a board. The medium consists of gouache, watercolor and pastel, and there are traces of water stains from the artist's application of the the water-based media. The artist's tacking holes are visible in all four corners; the top two corners evidence some slight fraying. There are some tiny losses and abrasion to the medium around the extreme periphery, but this is not at all disturbing to the composition. The colors and bright and the medium is intact and appears to be in very good condition.
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.

The lovers on horseback is a variant of one of Chagall's earliest and most important interpretations of a theme that would come to dominate his career.  This stunning composition evidences the artist's pleasure in depicting the visual splendor of the circus and the dancers, horseback riders and acrobats that made the event so entertaining.  Dating from the late 1920s, this particular picture may even have a more poignant subtext in that it depicts the artist and his lover Bella on horseback leaping over a fence.  The couple had spent the previous decade in the Soviet Union, where they had been forbidden to return to France.  The image here is one of freedom, with the lovers fleeing the confines of Communist Russia.   

Although this picture is specifically concerned with a couple astride a horse, Chagall's pictorial characters had many levels of significance.  To him, they represented the many faces of man's emotional character, both fun-loving and tragic.  He once wrote, "I have always considered the clowns, acrobats, and actors as being tragically human who, for me, would resemble characters from certain religious paintings.  And even today, when I paint a Crucifixion or another religious painting, I experience again almost the same sensations that I felt while painting circus people, and yet there is nothing literary in these paintings, and it is very difficult to explain why I find a psycho-plastic resemblance between the two kinds of composition."