Incredibly breathtaking, Lilacs is taken from a series titled, The Fourteen Large Lithographs of 1980. They are truly monumental in scale and Lilacs is no exception. The wondrous scene around the central, colorful pink bouquet creates an all-encompassing enormous work; the characters and figures posses a sketched-like quality, giving it a sense of lightness and ephemera not found in other lithographs by Chagall. Along the bottom margin of the work, we see a set of small vignettes featuring a peaceful setting of a village farmhouse and even a couple of pecking chickens.

Regarding the grand size of the series of prints, Charles Sorlier details the following:

It was the editor Aimé Maeght who had the idea of asking Chagall to realize a few large scale lithographs…. At first Chagall was a little reticent. But he wanted to please Aimé Maeght and so he began to work. Almost at once he became completely absorbed in the project and went well beyond the editor's request, since he was soon working on fourteen plates. (42)

Created in 1980, Lilacs is one of fourteen large-scale lithographs created by Chagall from a request by editor Aimé Maeght. Numbered 23/50 in pencil in the lower left margin and hand-signed by Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) in pencil in the lower right margin. Published by Editions Maeght, Paris on Arches wove paper

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
It is fully documented and referenced in (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the final sale of the work) :

1. Gauss, Ulrike, ed. Marc Chagall, The Lithographs - la Collection Sorlier. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 975 on pg. 368.

2. Sorlier, Charles. Chagall Lithographs, vol. VI 1980 - 1985, Crown Publishers, Inc.: New York, 1986. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 975 on pgs. 50-1. Series further detailed on pg. 42.

About the Framing:
Framed in museum-quality, archival materials, this work is set in a Spanish-style black and gold leaf frame. The shimmering tones of the gold moulding complements the cool tones in the work, found in the solid block colors of the paper collage. Lilacs is completed with white, linen-wrapped mats and a matching gold inner fillet, finished behind an archival Plexiglas® cover.