Marc Chagall Le peintre devant le tableau (The Painter in Front of his Painting), 1978 depicts a multilayered scene consisting of the painter and his fictional painting. The painter sits in his chair with palette in one hand; the other one poised holding a brush to the canvas. The scene is a city scape with a cathedral rising above the homes. A person with wings floats in the center, and above it sits a yellow horizon. Coming out from the easel and toeing the line between real and fictional, figures appear. Behind our painter an embracing couple floats calmly in the air. Above them, a little figure with red wings seems to be holding out a bouquet of flowers. She is watching the acrobatics of three more winged figures who climb a hanging ladder. All of these elements appear to be actualized ideas of the painter, who is about to put them onto his canvas. In this lithograph, we get a peek into the inspiration of a painter, and perhaps gain some insight into how Chagall felt about his own painting.

Created in 1978, this color lithograph on Arches wove paper is hand signed by Marc Chagall (Vitebsk, 1887- Saint-Paul, 1985) in pencil in the lower left and numbered from the edition of 50 in pencil in the lower left; there was also an edition of 7 numbered in Roman numerals on Japan nacreous paper.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Marc Chagall The Painter in Front of his Painting (Le peintre devant le tableau), 1978 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Gauss, Ulrike. Marc Chagall: The Lithographs. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 1960. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 932 on pg. 357.

2. Sorlier, Charles. The Lithographs of Chagall, vol. IV 1969-1973. New York Crown Publishers Inc., 1974. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 932 on pg. 166

3. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards Marc Chagall The Painter in Front of his Painting (Le peintre devant le tableau), 1978 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.