MARC CHAGALL

MARC CHAGALL
1887 Witebsk - 1985 Saint-Paul-de-Vence
"La Baie des Anges"
1961/62

Color lithograph on Arches-Velin (with watermark)
Image approx. 78.1 × 57.2 cm, sheet approx. 95 × 65.8 cm
Signed u.r. and inscribed "H.C..", u.l.
Printed by Mourlot, Paris.
Catalogue raisonné Mourlot 350

Provenance: Private collection, Monaco.
Rare copy before the edition of 50 artist's copies numbered in Arabic and 25 in Roman numerals on wide-margined wove paper.

This colour lithograph is probably the most beautiful example of Marc Chagall’s poetic pictorial language, which is characterized by summery lightness and dreamy fantasy. Above all, this work is a declaration of love to his second homeland, France, where the Russian-born artist spent most of his life. In 1949, Marc Chagall moved to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat near Nice, making the Côte d’Azur a central source of inspiration for his work.

In the sheet, a red-haired mermaid with a large bouquet of flowers floats above a deep blue sky, removed from her actual element. Below her, the sea stretches out with an oversized fish and the eponymous “Baie des Anges” (Bay of Angels) together with Nice’s famous “Promenade des Anglais”.

Chagall designed the composition as an advertising poster for the French tourist office to promote Nice and the Côte d’Azur internationally. This appeared with the explanatory text “NICE Soleil / Fleurs”, published by the French