Le petit flûtiste 1967

Somewhere, sometime, Marc Chagall made “Le petit flûtiste,” or, The Little Flautist. The whole canvas sings in shades of blue, offset by this bouquet of brightly colored flowers, reds, pinks, yellows, greens, set against the village scene. It makes me wonder what Chagall was thinking as he put brush to canvas. The paint isn’t too thick here, allowing the colors to blend and almost create a dreamlike texture. Look at the way the flautist is painted, a quick red gesture, anchoring the painting. You can see how the forms are loosely defined, giving a sense of movement and fluidity. It’s a deeply personal expression, and perhaps we’re invited not just to see, but to feel what it was like for Chagall, caught between memory and imagination. And I think that’s what painting’s all about, that ongoing conversation with the past, with each other, inspiring new ways of seeing.