Lot Essay
Le coq aux amoreux was begun in 1947 during Chagall's exile in America, and not completed until 1950 - two years after his return to Europe when he moved to Vence in the south of France. "Chagall's new sojourn in the south exerted a decisive influence on his art. The light, the vegetation, the rhythm of life all contributed to the rise of a more relaxed, airy, sensuous style in which the magic of color dominates more and more with the passing of the years. At Vence he witnessed the daily miracle of growth and blossoming in the mild, strong all pervading light--an experience in which earth and matter had their place" (F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, London, 1964, p. 519).
Chagall's first wife, Bella, had died in 1944. The imagery of a wedding couple--a tender depiction of which is to be found in Le coq aux amoreux--is a recurring theme in his work and a visual reference to the love he and Bella had shared. It is however also a reference to a story recounted by Bella in her memoirs, in which she remembered as a child watching a wedding take place in her local town. She described the bride "like a bright cloud. . .first and foremost a long white dress that trailed along the ground like something living, the whole covered by an airy veil. Through it, as through glass, the bride herself seemed far away." (quoted in S. Compton, Chagall, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Art, London, 1985, p. 222).
The farmyard animals also refer to childhood experiences, this time from Chagall's childhood. Virgina Leirens, the artist's companion between 1945-1952, described his attitude towards animals, ". . .he has always observed them searchingly and identified himself with them in a symbolical way beginning with the bullsthe horse that pulled small carts and the cocks and chickens kept by his parents. He was pleased when I decided to keep chickens, their cheerful noise created an atmosphere of familiarity. But animals are never pets for him, they have a universal character" (S. Alexander, Marc Chagall: A Biography, Toronto, 1978, p. 38).
Chagall's first wife, Bella, had died in 1944. The imagery of a wedding couple--a tender depiction of which is to be found in Le coq aux amoreux--is a recurring theme in his work and a visual reference to the love he and Bella had shared. It is however also a reference to a story recounted by Bella in her memoirs, in which she remembered as a child watching a wedding take place in her local town. She described the bride "like a bright cloud. . .first and foremost a long white dress that trailed along the ground like something living, the whole covered by an airy veil. Through it, as through glass, the bride herself seemed far away." (quoted in S. Compton, Chagall, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Art, London, 1985, p. 222).
The farmyard animals also refer to childhood experiences, this time from Chagall's childhood. Virgina Leirens, the artist's companion between 1945-1952, described his attitude towards animals, ". . .he has always observed them searchingly and identified himself with them in a symbolical way beginning with the bullsthe horse that pulled small carts and the cocks and chickens kept by his parents. He was pleased when I decided to keep chickens, their cheerful noise created an atmosphere of familiarity. But animals are never pets for him, they have a universal character" (S. Alexander, Marc Chagall: A Biography, Toronto, 1978, p. 38).