Marc Chagall’s Maternité Rouge (Red Maternity), 1980 playful use of scale conveys the importance of motherhood among the iconic landmarks of Paris. The Eiffel Tower stands tall in the background, while the River Seine runs down the center at the bottom of the image. Clothed in a fuchsia dress, the female figure holds a smaller human figure in her arms and stands out against the pale blue sky behind her. The slender form of the Eiffel Tower to the left echoes the oversized figure of the woman to the right, creating a compositional sense of balance through parallel forms. Marc Chagall’s Maternité Rouge (Red Maternity), 1980 is one of several Maternité works that Chagall completed in his lifetime. What makes this work unique is the engagement between the specifics of the Parisian landscape and the figure of the woman. The figures at the bottom, a couple and a painter, represent the people that populate the city of Paris, and by extension, the members of French society. The large female figure and child tower over these other figures, visually and ideologically elevating the bond of maternity.

Created in 1980, Marc Chagall’s Maternité Rouge (Red Maternity), 1980 is a color lithograph on Arches paper. This work is hand-signed by Marc Chagall (Vitebsk, 1887 - Saint-Paul, 1985) in the lower right margin. Numbered from edition of 50 in the lower left margin.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Marc Chagall’s Maternité Rouge (Red Maternity), 1980 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. The Sorlier collection. Edited by Ulrike Gauss et. al. New York: Distributed Art Publishers., Inc., 1999. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 984.
2. Mourlot, Fernand. The Lithographs of Chagall, vol. II 1957-1962. Monté Carlo, 1960. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 984.
3. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Marc Chagall’s Maternité Rouge (Red Maternity), 1980 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.