Marc Chagall

Estate of the artist
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
Sale: Christie’s, London, December 9, 1998, lot 685
Private Collection, Greece (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Christie’s, London, June 22, 2005, lot 174
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Osaka, Takashimaya Art; Kyoto, Takashimaya Art Gallery; Yokohama, Takashimaya Art Gallery; Tokyo, Takashimaya Art Gallery; Okayama, The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art & Gifu, The Museum of Fine Arts, Chagall, 2012, no. 19

This work is in excellent original condition. The medium is very bright and fresh and the impasto is extremely well preserved. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
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.

Bouquet au soleil jaune incorporates many of Chagall’s most iconic motifs, making full play of his beguiling and deeply personal imagery. The whole composition is suffused with an energetic red, a comparatively rare color scheme for Chagall. At the same time, the richly impastoed bouquet of flowers and the vibrant sun are indicative of the contentment and stability he experienced following his return to France in 1947. Color was always central to Chagall’s art and it took on a new significance in the years after the Second World War when he settled in the small town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Like many artists before him, he was captivated by the unique intensity of light and color that he found on France’s Mediterranean coast. As he recalled: "As I got nearer to the Côte d’Azur, I experienced a feeling of regeneration, something I hadn’t felt since childhood. The smell of flowers, a sort of new energy poured through me… Near to Nice already, I felt that numerous artists had come here, that it was a place where it was possible to establish oneself, to set oneself up. In such a town, you could write music, poetry, paint pictures… It was here I stayed. Perhaps I am feeling the years, but anyway this place has become to me like my hometown Vitebsk. As if I was rejuvenated, and that I was waiting for something. And this flower-filled world colored my new life" (quoted in Marc Chagall. Rétrospective 1908-1985 (exhibition catalogue), Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 2015, p. 48, translated from the French).

This new optimism is captured by the vividly rendered bouquet of the present work. Flowers had a special significance for Chagall, as André Verdet explains: "Marc Chagall loved flowers. He delighted in their aroma, in contemplating their colors. For a long time, certainly after 1948 when he moved for good to the South of France after his wartime stay in the U.S., there were always flowers in his studio. In his work bouquets of flowers held a special place…. Usually they created a sense of joy, but they could also reflect the melancholy of memories" (quoted in Jacob Baal-Teshuva, ed., Chagall: A Retrospective, Fairfield, 1995, p. 347). 



The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by the Comité Chagall.