CHAGALL ET LA MUSIQUE

This 27th March to 6th April Christie’s presented Chagall et la Musique, an online sale with a selection of 50 newto-the-market works by Marc Chagall. These works, all formerly in the artist’s estate, had never been offered for sale before. Chagall et la Musique was part of a Christie’s auction series entitled Marc Chagall, Colour of life: works formerly from the artist’s estate. The series launched with a London sale in June 2022 followed by a Hong Kong sale in December and has totalled over 21M€ to date. The Paris auction, which featured around forty colourful works on paper and a dozen lithographs, offered collectors attractive estimates from €1,000 to €200,000 - a wonderful opportunity to acquire a piece by Marc Chagall, one of the most sought-after impressionist and modern artists on the market. Photography courtesy Christie’s Images Limited 2023.

Most of the works offered in Paris were created in the latter half of the artist’s life, when he returned to France after his Second World War exile to the United States. For some of them, Chagall was nearly 100 years old, but all feature the artist’s “pictorial musicality”. The elements in his compositions dance, sing, and come together across the pictorial space, resonating differently according to colour, light, the contrasts of superimposed or juxtaposed shapes, and the media’s nuances. The selection for sale perfectly epitomised how the artist wielded his ever-renewing creativity throughout his life, reinventing himself through his ebullient pictorial language and artistic technique. A violinist uncle and a mandolin-playing brother meant Chagall had very personal connections with music from a young age. Musicians and string instruments underpin the language of his entire body of work. With their instruments tucked under their arms, musicians also become harbingers of doom during the most fraught periods in history, as depicted in Rencontre multicolore avec le peintre pour le concert (1974, estimate: €200,000 - €300,000; sold for €352,800) –the auction highlight.