Marc Chagall

"Paris through the Window" 1913


I have to admit that I've never been terribly keen on modern art, but my attention was piqued earlier this year by the 20th century artist, Marc Chagall, in a class James and I had on the book of Ezekiel. Everyone in the class was required to give a presentation, and one of our peers chose to do his presentation on Chagall's portrayal of Ezekiel - and I was fascinated by it. This student made the point that not many contemporary artists interact with Biblical material - in the art world Biblical images and metaphors are often considered "cliche." But Chagall was a Russian-born Jew, who eventually settled in Paris and did much of his painting there. His life (and hence artwork) was thoroughly influenced by his Jewish heritage, and so he has dozens of etchings and paintings of Biblical images and themes.

Last weekend when James and I were in Lambertville, we stumbled upon an art gallery in which the showcased "theme" was Biblical images. I was delighted to find that many of their works were by Chagall, and my interest in his paintings was once again aroused. After seeing his work in this gallery I decided to do some research on Chagall. It seems that his work doesn't fit into any popular art category, although he was associated with the Paris School in the pre-WWI era and was probably influenced by Cubism and Fauvism. Many of Chagall's works were known for their bright color and surreal appearance, which is immediately evident in most of the paintings I've posted below.

I suppose it is this surreal, strange, or childish appearance in paintings that I often dislike, but for some reason I am very drawn to the "other-worldness" and whimsy of Chagall. In reading about him he seemed to be a man of great hope, despite many difficulties he faced as a Jewish man in the 20th century (he was forced to flee Europe to the US during WWII, and experienced extreme prejudice growing up in Russia). There is something about the surreal in his work that taps into the human Psyche and extorts one to ponder the emotion, the movement, the color in his work. What does it mean? What do I see? I often can't tell if one of his works makes me feel joyful or melancholy, and I rather like the mixed emotions of his pieces. Does it remind me of an imaginary world, or does it bring me to a real and tangible memory of the world in which I live?

There is a quote by Chagall that struck me as just right in light of his work: "Will God or someone give me the power to breathe my sigh into my canvasses, the sigh of prayer and sadness, the prayer of salvation, of rebirth?"

The art gallery we visited:
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"Ezekiel's Vision"

This painting is based on the vision of Ezekiel in Chapter 1 - a vision we spent a good deal of time studying in our class.

"White Crucifixion"
It's interesting to see a crucifixion portrayed by a Jewish artists - most crucifixion paintings have been done by Christian artists. Many people surmise that this crucified Christ is symbolic of the suffering of Jewish people throughout the Holocaust - the suffering Christ and the Jewish people have shared the same fate.


"David with his Harp" 1956

"The Tree of Jesse" 1960

"Moses and the Bible" 1956

"The Poet with the Birds"


"Fleurs sur fond Rouge"

"Violinist-Bleu"

"View of Paris"