Marc Chagall – airy, light melancholy

Marc Chagall's (1887–1985) painting is a complex tapestry in which religious symbols, motifs from the folklore of his native Vitebsk, from the world of the circus, and Jewish tradition are interwoven into serenely melancholic dream images. These dream images draw on a repertoire of recurring motifs: musicians, roosters, roofs, flowers, fish, goats, seven-branched candlesticks, Torah scrolls, and floating lovers are among them, constantly rearranged like a kaleidoscope and rendered on the canvas with loose brushstrokes and bold colors.

His unmistakable, serene, weightless style made him one of the most popular artists of the 20th century. For all their ethereal charm, his compositions are nevertheless rich and complex in their allusions. They interweave not only colors and forms, but also his Jewish roots with his later experiences in Paris , religious symbolism with erotic gestures, symbols of hope with testimonies of violence .

This introduction not only familiarizes us with an often misunderstood work, it also traces a varied biography in which all the great dramas of the last century are inscribed.