Le cheval bleu 1948

Marc Chagall's "Le cheval bleu" is a painting made with oil on canvas. The dreamlike, narrative elements are built up through layers of color, with the underlying sketch apparent in places, as if Chagall were keen to remind us of the artifice of the piece. Look at the way the blue of the horse bleeds into the blue of the night sky, the paint applied thinly with expressive brushstrokes, like watercolor washes. This isn't about concealing the process, it's about making the process the point! The rooster, on the other hand, is a more opaque, singular presence in the painting. He is the grounding force in the composition. Chagall makes me think of Philip Guston, not in terms of how the paintings look, but how they share a desire to tap into the subconscious, whilst retaining a playful approach to the application of paint. It's this ambiguity that makes art interesting: the freedom of interpretation and the invitation to explore.