The Albertina in Vienna, Austria invites you to explore Marc Chagall’s whimsical yet sophisticated oeuvre in his latest exhibition Chagall. Until February 9, 2025, view approximately 90 works by the artist, which reflect art movements like primitivism, cubism, fauvism and surrealism. Ultimately, this retrospective champions Chagall’s own unique sensibility–marked by primal and universal themes. Chagall reveals the often paradoxical nature of human experience, by searching for “logic of the illogical” or “impossible possibilities.”
Though not religious, Marc Chagall ironically celebrated his Jewish identity through motifs and imagery such as sacramental objects, angels in flight and other biblical depictions from the Torah. The revered art critic Robert Hughes considered him “the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century.”
However, Chagall claimed his work was “not the dream of one people, but of all humanity.” One may argue Chagall’s approach was both traditional and avant-garde. Chagall’s contemporary, Picasso, remarked: “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is.”
Chagall Paintings and Works
The Birthday (1915) renders a blissful moment in Chagall’s life, namely his upcoming marriage to his beloved wife, Bella Rosenfeld. The figures embrace tenderly while ostensibly floating in a gravity-defying feat of human vulnerability. Color, composition, and form are masterfully employed in depicting a surrealistic impression of love.
Chagall recounted his romance with Bella: “Her silence is mine, her eyes mine. It is as if she knows everything about my childhood, my present, my future, as if she can see right through me.”
Bella, too, was equally moved by him. “When you did catch a glimpse of his eyes, they were as blue as if they’d fallen straight out of the sky. They were strange eyes … long, almond-shaped … and each seemed to sail along by itself, like a little boat.”
In Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine (1918), the joy and love Chagall feels for Bella appears again. The artist portrays himself perched on her shoulders while seemingly levitating toward the heavens.
Bella, dawning a white dress, serves as the foundation for Chagall’s glee self-portrait. Symbolically, this piece suggests Bella as the bedrock and inspiration for Chagall’s vision.
Reshaping Cubism with Color
Chagall’s humorous and colorful innovations reshaped the dominant Cubist approach to art. According to the art historian James Sweeney, Chagall possessed “a ripe color gift, a fresh, unashamed response to sentiment, a feeling for simple poetry and a sense of humor.” His works recount this playfulness and joie d’vivre.
The Blue Circus (1950-52), was originally created for a theater in London. Unfortunately, the theater could not pay for the painting. Both The Blue Circus and The Dance were returned to Chagall, where they remained, until his death.
The Blue Circus reflects Chagall’s lifelong curiosity for acrobats. Growing up in Russia, Chagall frequented the circus at village fairs. Interestingly, the renowned French art dealer, Ambroise Vollard, often accompanied Chagall to the circus in Paris. There, Chagall drew what he observed in the setting. He characterized the circus as “a magic show for me that emerges and fades like a planet.”
Chagall and Identity
Chagall was born into an Orthodox Hasidic Jewish working-class family in 1887. His childhood was spent in Vitebsk, Belorussia, where the themes of Judaism, longing, and memory would shape his work for a lifetime.
Chagall described the faith and humility of his upbringing:
“Day after day, winter and summer, at six o’clock in the morning, my father got up and went off to the synagogue. There he said his usual prayer for some dead man or other. On his return he made ready the samovar, drank some tea and went to work. Hellish work, the work of a galley-slave…No word will ever ease my father’s lot… There was always plenty of butter and cheese on our table. Buttered bread, like an eternal symbol, was never out of my childish hands.”
Historical Influences
Chagall experienced the tumult of the 20th century in Europe. Exile and displacement became central themes to his oeuvre. Pogroms, world wars, the Holocaust, and the death of his dear wife Bella influenced his darker works. After leaving Russia for good in 1922, Bella and Chagall were displaced in France. Then, in 1941, Chagall and Bella fled to New York during the fall of France. Seven years later, he returned to France, where he passed away in Saint Paul de Vence in 1985.
During a pogrom in Russia during his childhood, Chagall recounts the pain his identity brought him:
“I felt at every step that I was a Jew—people made me feel it…The street lamps are out. I feel panicky, especially in front of butchers’ windows. There you can see calves that are still alive lying beside the butchers’ hatchets and knives.”
Upon being confronted about the legitimacy of his Jewish identity, Chagall contemplated the repercussions of an admission. “My pockets are empty, my fingers sensitive, my legs weak and they are out for blood. My death would be futile. I so wanted to live.”
Despite the pain and suffering he and broader humanity experienced during the century, Chagall found redemption and inspiration in the Bible which he considered “the greatest source of poetry of all time.” For him, the Good Book represents nature, whereby color and the themes explored in the Bible serve as a portal to fully fathoming the love God holds for mankind and beyond.
Chagall Continued
In Paris, the Opera features a resplendent ceiling Chagall was specially commissioned to create in 1960. Not without controversy, the painter was entrusted for the project by the intellectual Andre Malraux, then the French Minister of Cultural Affairs.
Initially, some claimed Chagall’s work as culturally blasphemous because it disrupted tradition. Specifically, Chagall was tasked to paint over a pre-existing work from the 19th century by another artist. The risk proved bountiful. More people expressed interest in Palais Garnier, as the buzz around the new ceiling heightened. Within decades, Paris saw an increase in innovation, principally with the Pyramid by Ming Pei at the Louvre.
In Nice, France, visitors may also consider the Marc Chagall National Museum dedicated to his work and life. Following his exile in New York, Chagall settled in the South of France. There he completed a cycle of 17 large mural paintings, all donated to the museum. Inspired by the Old Testament books Genesis, Exodus, and the Song of Songs, he endeavored to unite people through the Jewish and Christian message of love. More adventurous devotees of the painter may consider traveling further East to Belarus where his boyhood home in Vitebsk has been transformed into a museum.
[Written November 2024]
Cover photo: Exhibition view | Photos © Robert Bodner
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