For a Woman, What Remains 1967

Marc Chagall's "For a Woman, What Remains" presents a dreamlike scene, realized through etching with watercolor. The composition is structured around intersecting circles, framing various figures and creatures in a dynamic yet enigmatic arrangement. The vibrant, yet diluted, watercolor washes give the scene an ethereal quality. We see a juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane, with a horned, sword-wielding figure standing opposite a nude woman embraced by another figure, while a red bull looms behind circus performers. Chagall uses a symbolic language which seems to destabilize conventional narratives. The figures float unbound, suggesting a rejection of fixed identities and meanings. This challenges the viewer to reconsider the relationship between the visible and the invisible, the real and the imagined. The ethereal quality evokes a sense of longing, while the fragmented composition mirrors the incomplete nature of memory and desire.