Explore, through musicians and rooftops, lovers floating in the air and constant flowers, the ethereal and rich visual vocabulary of Marc Chagall, to this day considered one of the most renowned masters of modernity and one of the most influential Jewish artists of all time.

The poet painter

A world of symbols and floating beings

For Marc Chagall (1887-1985) painting was an intricate tapestry of dreams, stories and traditions. With his instantly recognisable visual vocabulary, Chagall carved out a unique place for himself in early 20th century art and was often identified as one of the earliest expressions of our psychic experience.
Chagall's canvases are characterised by vague brushstrokes, deep colours, a particular penchant for blue and a repertoire of recurring tropes including musicians, roosters, rooftops, flowers and lovers floating in the air. Brimming with ethereal charm, his compositions tended to be full of complex references. In them he combined not only colours and forms, but also his Jewish roots with his Parisian experience, expressions of faith with gestures of love, symbols of hope with testimonies of trauma.
This faithful introduction to the artist explores the many versions of Chagall's rich vocabulary. Through scenes of birth, love, marriage and death, using images of the Eiffel Tower or scenes of his native Vitebsk, this work pays homage to the unique aesthetic, as elegant to the eye as it is appealing to the imagination, of one of the most renowned masters of modernity and one of the most influential Jewish artists of all time.

About the authors

Ingo F. Walther (1940-2007) studied literature and art history in Frankfurt am Main and Munich. He wrote and edited numerous studies on the art of the Middle Ages and the 19th and 20th centuries, including Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Art of the 19th century and Codices illustrespublished by TASCHEN.

Rainer Metzger studied Art History, Modern History and Modern German Literature in Munich. He received his doctorate in 1994 with a thesis on Dan Graham and worked as an art and architecture editor for the Viennese newspaper sDer Standard. He has written numerous books on art, including titles on Van Goghy and Chagall. Since 2004 he has been a professor of art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe.

Publisher: Taschen