Masterpiece Story: Leaning Over Flowers by Marc Chagall

Historical Background

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is one of the most famous Jewish artists in the Western art tradition. His paintings and stained glass windows reflect an innocence and positivity that attract the viewers’ gaze. He embraced Jewish folklore and child-like stories as the subjects of his depictions. Capturing the delights of love and simple pleasures was at the core of his signature style.

Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, and the oldest of nine siblings. His family was extremely poor and Chagall struggled to acquire even the most basic of paint materials. However, he later escaped his poverty-stricken lifestyle when he received wide recognition for his poetic images. One such poetic masterpiece is Leaning Over Flowers, held in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Composition

Leaning Over Flowers was painted in 1927 when the artist was living in Paris and struggling as a stereotypical starving artist. The image is gouache on paper and measures 48 by 62 centimeters (3.15 × 24.41 inches). It presents a simplistic image of a large bouquet in front of a window. However, curiously, a person standing outside is leaning through the window and over the flowers. A Parisian cityscape is seen in the upper right-hand corner.

Blue Period

The painting is dominated by shades of blue and is very similar in style to Picasso’s blue period (1901–1904), two decades earlier. Everything is tinted with blue except for the leaves and flowers of the bouquet. Bright red roses, vibrant yellow lilies, and bold green leaves contrast against the blue atmosphere. With only four distinct colors, the painting has a limited palette, which creates a monumental and almost stained-glass effect. It could even be described as dreamlike.

Flower Heads

The rhythmic placement of the flower heads and the repetitive lines and shadows create a harmonious visual pattern across the bouquet of flowers. It has an almost wallpaper effect with its regular floral profusions.

Self-Portrait

The figure dominating the upper right corner is believed to be a self-portrait of Marc Chagall. The figure’s deep-set eyes and curly hair certainly reflect the facial characteristics of the artist. However, Chagall does not include “self-portrait” for any other self-identifying indicator in the painting’s title. Therefore, while the figure may be visually based upon Chagall, it is not meant to be Chagall. This theory is more probable because this painting was created when Chagall was still an impoverished artist. He would not have been able to afford paying for a model, therefore he would have simply used a mirror and his reflection for his figural pieces.

Ownership

The figure (Chagall) stands outside the window in the exterior space. However, he leans through the window and over the flowers. He buries his face in the peripheral edge and reaches the perfume emanating from the bouquet. Does this figure own the domestic space and the flowers inside? Or is he a stranger who is passing by and is absorbed by the unguarded arrangement? Hopefully, it is the first situation because most people would be deeply surprised and even scared to find a stranger leaning through their window, into their domestic space, to smell their flowers.

Simple Pleasures

Regardless of the figure’s relationship to the flowers, there is a certain simplistic pleasure in smelling flowers. There is a child-like innocence in his action – sometimes the greatest joys can be found in the smallest moments, and this is a message found frequently in Chagall’s images.

Lightheartedness

Marc Chagall’s life was punctuated by frequent hardship and the instability of wars and revolutions. He was affected by the Russian Revolution of 1905, World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Great Depression, and World War II. However, despite these cataclysmic events, Chagall’s images remain light-hearted and positive. They express the joys of love, the pleasures of nature, and the freedom of the imagination. Perhaps in our modern times, when extreme behavior and regional unrest are growing, Chagall’s images and fortitude are more relevant than ever.