Important Notice

Lot 45

Marc Chagall, who is celebrated as one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in Vitebsk, Russia and died in Paris after a long and fruitful career. His iconic style, as exemplified in this work entitled L'Echelle au ciel, is narrative and poetic although difficult to label under any one art movement.

Executed in 1979 when the artist was ninety-two years old, the present work appears to be a remembrance scene... Marc Chagall, who is celebrated as one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in Vitebsk, Russia and died in Paris after a long and fruitful career. His iconic style, as exemplified in this work entitled L'Echelle au ciel, is narrative and poetic although difficult to label under any one art movement.

Executed in 1979 when the artist was ninety-two years old, the present work appears to be a remembrance scene looking back at images from his life. In the lower part of the composition Chagall paints himself lying prostrate in front of his easel, as if worshipping at the altar to Art. Above his head, a bride and groom hover in a marriage ceremony, perhaps signifying that love is the most significant inspiration of all. The central vertical form shows a ladder rising above the familiar rooftops of his birth town Vitebsk, bridging the earthly and heavenly worlds that are equally important to the artist. This ladder may also signify the artist's awareness that the end of his life is nearing, and yet the whole composition is joyful. Angels fly around the ladder, one of whom is playing a fiddle, as if celebrating life and artistic inspiration. Dotted around the composition are the cockerel and donkey, which are recurring symbolic features, found in Chagall's work throughout his life.

Similarly lyrical works can be found in Chagall's most celebrated paintings such as the frescoed ceiling of the Paris Opéra, in his stained glass windows and in museum collections all over the world.

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