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Peasant life
Marc Chagall • Painting, 1925, 101×80 cm
Description of the artwork «Peasant life»
The painting "Peasant Life" was painted by Marc Chagall two years after his move to Paris. He was invited by the famous Marchand Ambroise Vollard - and took the artist under his wing. An art dealer and publisher, Vollard began to implement his original idea - to publish several classic books with illustrations, which were made not by professional graphic artists, but by artists. Chagall attracted him with his sharpness of thinking, grotesque and sarcastic look at the world around him.
Vollard rarely made a mistake in his choice, and so it was this time. Chagall created 96 sheets of original graphics for Gogol's Dead Souls. Vollard became Marchand Chagall.
The artist's paintings sold remarkably. He became famous back in Berlin, but did not earn anything due to inflation. In Paris, his wealth improved rapidly. And Chagall began to allow himself the repetition of his old paintings, which he preferred to call "variants". The painting "Peasant Life", painted by the artist in 1925, also belongs to such "variants".
Those who are familiar with the artist's work clearly see in it an allusion to an earlier work - a painting "Me and my village"written by Chagall back in 1911, on his first visit to Paris, when he admired Van gogh,Renoir and Gauguin... The influence of Cubism, partly Fauvism, is clearly felt in it, but all this is presented "in a Chagallian way", quite lyrically, with a slight touch of modernity.
But "Peasant Life" is written very sweet and sweet - nothing extravagant. A kind of "sweet village dolce vita" and its simple joys: fresh grass - for a cheerful horse, dreams of a home and family - for a silly-looking peasant. And simple entertainment in perspective.
American writer Jonathan Wilson, in his book dedicated to the life of Marc Chagall, ventured to suggest that the artist created a number of similar "variants" of the early subjects of his paintings, so to speak, for the sake of money. Which at that time he already had enough to lead a free life and allow himself a lot. A comfortable new studio on the Avenue d'Orléans, furnished in an oriental style - not without the participation of his beloved wife, who in Paris from Bertha to Bella. And regular orders from Vollard that were paid on time.
Perhaps, "Peasant Life" is somewhat reminiscent of the dreams of Chagall himself: a cozy house and simple joys of life, to which he walked so long and persistently.
Vollard rarely made a mistake in his choice, and so it was this time. Chagall created 96 sheets of original graphics for Gogol's Dead Souls. Vollard became Marchand Chagall.
The artist's paintings sold remarkably. He became famous back in Berlin, but did not earn anything due to inflation. In Paris, his wealth improved rapidly. And Chagall began to allow himself the repetition of his old paintings, which he preferred to call "variants". The painting "Peasant Life", painted by the artist in 1925, also belongs to such "variants".
Those who are familiar with the artist's work clearly see in it an allusion to an earlier work - a painting "Me and my village"written by Chagall back in 1911, on his first visit to Paris, when he admired Van gogh,Renoir and Gauguin... The influence of Cubism, partly Fauvism, is clearly felt in it, but all this is presented "in a Chagallian way", quite lyrically, with a slight touch of modernity.
But "Peasant Life" is written very sweet and sweet - nothing extravagant. A kind of "sweet village dolce vita" and its simple joys: fresh grass - for a cheerful horse, dreams of a home and family - for a silly-looking peasant. And simple entertainment in perspective.
American writer Jonathan Wilson, in his book dedicated to the life of Marc Chagall, ventured to suggest that the artist created a number of similar "variants" of the early subjects of his paintings, so to speak, for the sake of money. Which at that time he already had enough to lead a free life and allow himself a lot. A comfortable new studio on the Avenue d'Orléans, furnished in an oriental style - not without the participation of his beloved wife, who in Paris from Bertha to Bella. And regular orders from Vollard that were paid on time.
Perhaps, "Peasant Life" is somewhat reminiscent of the dreams of Chagall himself: a cozy house and simple joys of life, to which he walked so long and persistently.
