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Description: PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

1887-1985
LES FLEURS SUR SAINT JEANNET

measurements
72.5 by 88cm.

alternate measurements
28 1/2 by 34 5/8 in.

Painted in 1968-72.

signed Marc Chagall (lower right); signed Marc Chagall on the reverse

oil on canvas

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Chagall.

PROVENANCE

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Sale: Palais Gallièra, Paris (Maître Guy Loudmer), 5th March 1975
Purchased at the above sale by the late owner

EXHIBITED

Tokyo, Musée National d'Art Moderne; Kyoto, Musée Municipal de Kyoto; Nagoya, Musée Préfectoral d'Aichi & Kumamoto, Musée Préfectoral de Kumamoto, Marc Chagall, 1976, no. 57, illustrated in the catalogue

LITERATURE

Werner Schmalenbach & Charles Sorlier, Marc Chagall, Paris, 1979, illustrated in colour p. 133 (with slightly larger measurements)

NOTE

Like many of Chagall's best works, Les Fleurs sur Saint Jeannet contains a strong element of fantasy. The suspended vase of flowers dominates the canvas, melting into the background. Some of Chagall's most frequently used iconography is present here - the flying bride, the goats and the village scene. The goats and female figure are submerged into the green-blue background. The vibrant and luminous red and white flowers echo the colour of the houses and roof tops, all highlighting the rich blues and greens, that enhance the mysterious dreamlike quality of the surroundings. The composition of Les Fleurs sur Saint Jeannet is densely structured and by closely linking motif, form and colour, Chagall transforms a view from his studio window into a celebration of his inner world and a culmination of his experience.

After a few months at Orgeval, Chagall returned to the Midi in October 1949. He first stayed in the little village of Saint-Jeannet, and moved to the nearby Vence a few months later. Having initially rented accommodation, he soon purchased a house named 'Les Collines'. Chagall moved there in spring 1950, where he found a real, permanent home. 'Les Collines' lay on the slope of the Baou des Blancs on the road from Vence to Saint-Jeannet. Writing about Chagall's paintings of Saint-Jeannet, Franz Meyer commented: 'The new environment is responsible not only for the view from his window on the little old walled town [...] but also for the novel charm of the painterly mood which embraces all things that grow and blossom' (F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, Life and Work, New York, 1963, p. 501). By the time Les Fleurs sur Saint Jeannet was painted, Chagall had left Vence for Saint-Paul in the Alpes-Maritimes. However, he continued to conjure up the dreamy views of Saint Jeannet from the studio at 'Les Collines', as in the present work.