Marc Chagall

Estate of the artist

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Meret Meyer, on behalf of the Comité Chagall, dated 15 December 2021.

Ecuyère rouge dans le ciel bleu-rosé entre Vitebsk et Paris emerged from one of Chagall’s most prolific creative periods. During this time, the artist was in the South of France with his second wife, ‘Vava’, immersing themselves in the sunny environment and its vibrant colours. The stability and contentment Chagall experienced in his personal life during this period, along with recent experiments in mosaic and stained glass, revitalised the artist’s creative output. This gave him the impetus to revisit some deeply personal themes. Reflecting fondly on his life, Chagall started creating ambitious compositions that unveiled and documented the chain of events and circumstances that had brought him to that point in his life.

Ecuyère rouge dans le ciel bleu-rosé entre Vitebsk et Paris powerfully celebrates Chagall’s profound love for both his hometown, Vitebsk, and his adopted city, Paris – a consistent theme in this period. On the left of the scene, the artist transports the viewer to the French capital through the silhouetted Eiffel Tower, which towers over the cityscape. On the right of the composition, Vitebsk unfolds as a series of single-storey buildings sprawling towards the upper-right (rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise). The buildings are densely packed, and the domed structure is reminiscent of the city’s numerous churches.

Imaginatively merging these two locations into a single picture, the work on paper visually connects them across a horizontal axis extending from the painter in the foreground to the circus above. The composition unveils Chagall’s memory and personal experiences with a dreamlike quality, emphasising how both Paris and Vitebsk fuelled his creativity and imagination.