5/24/2018 Marc Chagall

1/3

Marc ChagallParis Through the Window

When Matisse dies, said Picasso, Chagall will bethe only painter left who understands what colour is.Marc Chagall, in fact, outlived both Matisse and Picasso,dying in 1985 at the age of 97, one of the last of thegeneration of great modern artists.Who could ever thoughthat a simple man with mixed cultural backgrounds wasable to do so much art masterpieces during his time?

5/24/2018 Marc Chagall

2/3

The painting that I chose to present is "Paris trough awindow", because it is one of my favorite pices fromChagall. The broken, puzzle-like appearance of thepainting is an influence from Cubism, breaking up realityand reassembling it in new ways.The viewer is attacked bythe painting in a first step with formalism, which is knownfor creating an impact by color, shapes and lines. Color isused to establish moods, because it can have this effect onpeople. Warm colors (red, orange and yellow) evokeemotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort tofeelings of anger and hostility. While, the blue side of thespectrum colors (blue, purple and green) are often

described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings ofsadness or indifference. In matter of shapes, triangles areseen throughout the painting: the parachute, the EiffelTower, inside the windowpanes and also many rectangularshapes: the window, the windowpanes, the buildings.Another theory that we can remark in this painting isrepresentialism, through the iconic Effiel Tower a symbolof Paris, a place where at that time all artists gathered

because Paris was the world's art capital.It is believed that "Paris Through the Window" is a follower

of the "Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers" painting, whichChagall painted a year earlier.

5/24/2018 Marc Chagall

3/3

In which,two landscapes hover above the painter: his new

home Paris and his native land Belarus. Therefor, TheJanus figure inParis Through the Windowhas been readas the artist looking at once westward to his new home inFrance and eastward to Russia. This is proof of thepresence of expresionism, because we can identify thepainter's emotions, missing his childhood and hishomeland, but at the same time being proud of thepresent.