A colorful, lively scene, fragmented and abstracted, of numerous people on wooden floor, rolling green hills behind them. Figures include a nude woman on a bed, an aproned woman with bucket, and man with a long white beard. A figure on the hill at top right does a cartwheel or handstand.

Birth

1911/12

Marc Chagall Born Vitebsk (formerly Russian Empire, now Belarus), 1887; died Saint-Paul, France, 1985

France

Marc Chagall’s Birth blends avant-garde aesthetics with traditions of eastern European Jewish life. The painting depicts the birth of Chagall’s brother David in the family home around 1892, an especially powerful memory from the artist’s early life.

The fractured and spiraling space evokes the luminosity of stained glass, representing the scene in a way that is at once modern and folkloric. The topsy-turvy perspective combines a home with a cacophonous performance. Against a starry sky, an acrobat jumps for joy, while below him, figures resembling circus performers relax at a table. To the left, away from the central action, a mother and newborn child are warmed by the red glow of an oven.

Oil on canvas

Modern Art