Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Lot 189 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIMONE AND JEAN TIROCHE

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Le bouquet devant la fenêtre

Closed19 June 2013

Price Realised

GBP 241,875

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Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Le bouquet devant la fenêtre
signed, dated and inscribed 'Marc Chagall 1966 Pour Nina et Rudi' (lower right); signed 'Marc Chagall' (on the reverse)
gouache, pastel, pen and India ink and wash and black crayon on paper
22 7/8 x 18 1/8 in. (58.2 x 45.9 cm.)
Executed in 1966

Sir Rudolph & Nina Bing, New York, by whom acquired from the artist in 1966.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 4 April 1990, lot 184.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, New York, 3 May 2006, lot 267.
Acquired at the above sale and thence by descent to the present owners.

Specialist note

The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
For Chagall, the 1960s was a decade characterised by intense creative activity. He received several large-scale public commissions including the commission for the Jerusalem Windows, whose unveiling in Paris in 1961 established his reputation as one of the most influential architectural designers of the day. Chagall had, from the outset of his career, established himself as a colourist, but it was not until this latter part of his life that colour achieved its full radiance and plenitude in his work. Chagall regarded his work in stained glass as similar to painting in light, an extension of the luminous and intense palette he employed when depicting the dramatic contrasts and subtle harmonies of a bouquet of flowers.

'He said that when he painted a bouquet it was as if he was painting a landscape. It represented France to him. But the discovery was also a logical one in the light of the change taking place in his vision and pictorial interests. Flowers, especially mixed bouquets of tiny blossoms, offer a variety of delicate color combinations and a fund of texture contrasts which were beginning to hold Chagall's attention more and more' (J.J. Sweeney, Marc Chagall, New York, 1946, p. 56).