Marc Chagall

Galerie Maeght, Paris

Sale: Christie's, London, June 30, 1999, lot 528

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Painted in 1978, Fleurs dans la lumière is a striking example of the mesmerizing dream world that characterizes Chagall’s distinctive artistic vision. Having spent the 1950s experimenting with stained-glass techniques and receiving a number of commissions in this field, it is clear that the powerful coloration and light effects of the medium had a profound effect on his subsequent painting. In his artistic maturity, Chagall painted shifting, dream-like compositions of which the present work is an exquisite example. Fleurs dans la lumière is dominated by a magnificently oversized bouquet of flowers bursting with color. Toward the left of the composition, a pair of lovers floats beside the bouquet; the male figure tenderly embraces the female figure. This is likely a reference to his late wife Bella, the great love of his youth. Chagall's marriage to her in 1915 had a profound impact on his life and work. The symbolic fusion of love and flowers was an enduring theme throughout Chagall's artistic career and can be traced back to some of his earliest work.

Chagall claimed that he had never known of flowers in Russia and that they really came to represent France for him. In his paintings Chagall repeatedly drew from a vocabulary of personal symbolism so that when painting a bouquet, for example, it was like painting a landscape of his adopted country. Chagall resided in Saint-Paul-de-Vence from 1960 until his death and sought to capture the town's easy charm and luminosity. 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" (F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, London, 1964, p. 519). The whimsical amalgamation of these elements results in an image full of vibrancy and tenderness. Moreover, it hails from a period when the artist was reflecting on his past with a sense of nostalgia whilst simultaneously celebrating his peaceful present life in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. With Fleurs dans la lumière, Chagall has allowed his imagination and instinct to govern his paintbrush, presenting the viewer with his tranquil disposition and celebrating the beauty and serenity he has discovered in his South of France surroundings.