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Lot Essay
The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
First explored by Chagall in the early 1920s as a romantic extension to the symbolic vocabulary of the paintings depicting himself with his beloved wife Bella, the vase of flowers became a perennial theme in Chagall's art. The explosion of colour that so often characterises his bouquets allows Chagall to manipulate dramatic contrasts and subtle harmonies with aplomb, particularly when, as in the present work, he sets his flowers against a striking background of bright blue and white emphasizing the firework-like explosion of yellow and violet blossoms. Chagall's paintings often present the viewer with an almost Surreal group of objects and characters, sprung from his restless imagination. In Bouquet de mimosas, there is a clear sentiment of family love and serenity, perhaps one reason he later dedicated the work to his daughter, Ida. The Maternité group enters the scene at the left, the familiar Midi motif of a of fresh lemons on the table, crossing the interior and exterior realms, and the recognizable view of their hometown of Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the distance, bathed in sunlight.
Vence, a medieval town on the Côte d'Azur, had emerged as a thriving artistic center since the war. The years after Chagall settled into the halcyon rhythms of life in southern France were, in his words, "a bouquet of roses" (quoted in S. Alexander, Marc Chagall: A Biography, New York, 1978, p. 492). He lived in a house called "Les Collines" on the slope of the Baou des Blancs. Commenting on this period, Franz Meyer states, "Chagall's new sojourn in the south exerted a decisive influence on his art. 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 color dominates more and more with the passing of the 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" (in Marc Chagall, London, 1964, p. 519).
First explored by Chagall in the early 1920s as a romantic extension to the symbolic vocabulary of the paintings depicting himself with his beloved wife Bella, the vase of flowers became a perennial theme in Chagall's art. The explosion of colour that so often characterises his bouquets allows Chagall to manipulate dramatic contrasts and subtle harmonies with aplomb, particularly when, as in the present work, he sets his flowers against a striking background of bright blue and white emphasizing the firework-like explosion of yellow and violet blossoms. Chagall's paintings often present the viewer with an almost Surreal group of objects and characters, sprung from his restless imagination. In Bouquet de mimosas, there is a clear sentiment of family love and serenity, perhaps one reason he later dedicated the work to his daughter, Ida. The Maternité group enters the scene at the left, the familiar Midi motif of a of fresh lemons on the table, crossing the interior and exterior realms, and the recognizable view of their hometown of Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the distance, bathed in sunlight.
Vence, a medieval town on the Côte d'Azur, had emerged as a thriving artistic center since the war. The years after Chagall settled into the halcyon rhythms of life in southern France were, in his words, "a bouquet of roses" (quoted in S. Alexander, Marc Chagall: A Biography, New York, 1978, p. 492). He lived in a house called "Les Collines" on the slope of the Baou des Blancs. Commenting on this period, Franz Meyer states, "Chagall's new sojourn in the south exerted a decisive influence on his art. 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 color dominates more and more with the passing of the 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" (in Marc Chagall, London, 1964, p. 519).