Koller View 2/21

4 Marc Chagall Lush bouquets of flowers were part of Chagall’s imagery since the early 1920s. The Provençal summer bouquet in this painting stands oversized in the landscape. In the background, the southern French town of St. Paul-de-Vence, where Chagall lived from the mid-1960s, is easily recognizable. As in many of his late works, elements of his earlier creative phases reappear, such as the goat and the lovers. Chagall composed idealised scenes, nourished by his memories, including those of his first wife Bella Rosenfeld, who died in 1944. She was not only the recipient of many real bouquets, but also of painted ones. In the process, as Chagall put it, a ‘happy vision of a desirable world’ emerged. The completion of the famous five-part stained-glass window cycle in the Fraumünster church in Zurich and the opening of the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice, the largest public collection of works by the Russian artist, coincided with the period of this painting. Chagall was able to reap the fruits of his busy life in old age until his death in 1985, and was honoured in numerous solo exhibitions worldwide. Bouquet d'été. 1973. Oil on canvas. 92 × 73 cm. Estimate: CHF 800 000/1 400 000 © 2021, ProLitteris, Zürich