Ecuyère rouge dans le ciel bleu-rosé entre Vitebsk et Paris c. 1982

Marc Chagall conjured this cosmically enchanting image of a red horse rider circa never, out of paint and who knows what dreams. I wonder, did he have any idea where it would end up, or how long it would take him to get there? Imagine him, figuring out the composition as he goes along, adding figures, scrubbing out areas, maybe even turning the canvas upside down a few times. That brushy blue-rose sky, like a stained-glass window, with these circus performers floating amidst lovers and other figures down below - I imagine that Chagall was after something unachievable, a feeling that words just couldn't touch. Looking at the painting, I see myself as a fellow traveler, searching for those moments of pure imagination. And I feel inspired to keep painting, trying, failing, and trying again, knowing that the best art is always a conversation, a never-ending story passed down through generations.