Romantic Works of Marc Chagall

Catherine Welborn is an artist and designer from Northwest Florida.

Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall was one of the 20^th century’s great canvas masters. Born Moishe Shagall in Russia on July 7th of 1887, he was the oldest of nine children. A native of Russian Belarus, he became one of the most celebrated artists of his country. He worked in many facets of imagery to include painting, stained glass, ceramic, tapestry and other mediums. Before leaving his home town of Vitebsk in 1923, he founded the Vitebsk Arts College. Chagall would join the likes of Piccasso and Braque in the fold of the modernist movement marked by post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, symbolism. Marc Chagall created his own style of art influenced by his Jewish upbringing and his studies in Pairs and Berlin.

Chagall met his life partner in 1909. Shown here, Bella Rosenfeld Chagall is the subject of many whimsical works . His love for her brought him home to Vitebsk in 1914, just weeks before the beginning of World War I. His plans to marry Bella and take her to Paris were abruptly put on hold as the borders closed. They married were married a year later in 1915 and enjoyed a romance that would endure all of their lives.

Many of Chagall's works depict lovers flying through the air. In this work, created just weeks before his marriage to Bella, Chagall conveys a feeling of great emotional exuberance as he floats above Bella and engages her in a kiss.

In "The Promenade" Chagall expresses the joys of his marriage to Bella. He smiles as he holds a bird in one hand and Bella in the other. Bella soars upward as if a kite in the heavens connected to earth only by Chagall's loving hand. A passionate bouquet of red flowers lay at his foot

Here Bella and Chagall float dreamily over the town of Vitebsk. The smooth, almost faceted shapes form the unified couple. Below them is the recollection of the poverty- stricken Jewish district that Chagall called home as a youth.

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Chagall celebrated love and marriage throughout his years with Bella. The warm, vibrant palette of the Double Portrait with Wineglass emits joyful harmony. Here they are in whimsical, acrobatic juxtaposition. She supports him with his wine glass, head slightly displaced, as he playfully hides her eye possibly eluding to their intoxication.

This is the first of many renderings of the work titled "To My Wife." The painting pays homage to the many things that Chagall loved with great emphasis on his life with Bella. The couple enjoyed 29 years of marrige ending with her sudden death in September of 1944.

Chagall brought forth numerous depictions of fantasy, passion, romance and whimsy. Though Chagall remarried in 1952 to Valentine Brodsky, his most celebrated works of romance are renditions of life with Bella. Marc Chagall died on March 29th, 1985 at the age of 97.

To learn more about Marc Chagall visit:

• Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) - Russian Artist
  Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) - This great modern Russian artist's work is rich in the imagery of the folklore of his native Russia and Jewish life, and often takes on the appearance of a dream-like fantasy.
• Marc Chagall Biography
  Discusses Marc Chagall's personal biography and the life he led.
• Marc Chagall Online
  Marc Chagall [Russian-born French Painter and Stained Glass Artist, 1887-1985] Guide to pictures of works by Marc Chagall in art museum sites and image archives worldwide.
• http://www.biography.com/people/marc-chagall-9243488
  

© 2011 Catherine Povloski Welborn

Comments

Catherine Povloski Welborn (author) from PANAMA CITY BEACH on October 22, 2011:

Sweet! I did not know that. Thanks for sharing.

rjsadowski on October 22, 2011:

Good article. Did you know that Marc Chagall also painted the label for the 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine bottles.