Chagall et la Musique:50 works from the artist’s estate
Online Sale 27 March – 6 April | Exhibition 30 March – 6 April
Paris – From 27 March to 6 April 2023, Christie’s presents Chagall et la Musique. With this online sale, enthusiasts and collectors will discover a selection of 50 new-to-the-market works by Marc Chagall. These works – most of them in pristine condition – were all formerly in the artist’s estate and have never been offered for sale before. Chagall et la Musique is part of a Christie’s auction series entitled Marc Chagall, Colour of life: works formerly from the artist’s estate. The series launched with a London sale in June 2022 followed by a Hong Kong sale in December and has totalled over 21M€ to date. The Paris auction, featuring around forty works on paper and a dozen lithographs, will offer collectors attractive estimates from €1,000 to €200,000. A wonderful opportunity to acquire a piece by Marc Chagall, one of the most sought-after impressionist and modern artists on the market.
Most of the works to be offered in Paris were created in the latter half of the artist’s life, when he returned to France after his Second World War exile to the United States. For some of them, Chagall was nearly 100 years old, but all feature the artist’s “pictorial musicality”. The elements in his compositions dance, sing, and come together across the pictorial space, resonating differently according to colour, light, the contrasts of superimposed or juxtaposed shapes, and the media’s nuances. The selection for sale perfectly epitomises how the artist wielded his ever-renewing creativity throughout his life, reinventing himself through his ebullient pictorial language and artistic technique.
A violinist uncle and a mandolin-playing brother meant Chagall had very personal connections with music from a young age. Musicians and string instruments underpin the language of his entire body of work. With their instruments tucked under their arms, musicians also become harbingers of doom during the most fraught periods in history, as depicted in Rencontre multicolore avec le peintre pour le concert (1974, estimate: €200,000 – €400,000) – the auction highlight.
Chagall was endlessly inspired by the boundless space created by music, shaping his pictorial world through all media. The artist also carried out numerous substantial commissions the world over, including costume creation and set design for ballets, stage curtains and opera costumes. In 1964, Chagall painted the Opéra Garnier’s ceiling, the zenith of his artistic career. The famous Parisian façade would become a recurring figure in his work, as in L’Ange devant l’Opéra (1981, estimate: €180,000 – €200,000).
Commedia dell’arte, his monumental work for the Foyer in Frankfurt’s theatre, was completed after numerous gouache paintings and preparatory studies. Among these, seven previously unknown preparatory studies will be offered for sale with estimates from €4,000 to €30,000. These works, representative of the highly symbolic, reflective phase for post-War Germany, reveal the artist’s extensive creative process.
The sale also features two preparatory studies for works now in museums, notably a colourful, fleshed-out study for Les gens du voyage (estimate: €25,000 – €35,000). The final 1968 canvas painting has been on loan to the Céret Museum by the Centre Pompidou ever since its 1988 donation by the artist’s estate.
This October, Christie’s New York will be presenting Part II of Marc Chagall, Colour of Life: Prints and Artist’s Books Formerly from the Artist’s Estate. Celebrating Chagall’s life-long love of printmaking, the sale will feature works from the 1920’s to 70’s and will include several rare, extensively hand-coloured proofs.
PRACTICAL INFOOnline Sale Chagall et la musique from 27 March to 6 April 2023
ViewingFrom 30 March to 6 April 2023Open every day from 10am to 6pm, except Sunday 2 April from 2pm to 6pm
Christie’s Paris – 9, Avenue Matignon – 75008 Paris
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* Please note when quoting estimates above that other fees will apply in addition to the hammer price – see Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of the sale catalogue.*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
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