Les Vendanges 1961

Marc Chagall made Les Vendanges with lithography, and it feels like pure, unadulterated joy. The green floods everything, like the memory of a perfect summer day. Look at the figures scattered across the field. Some are rendered in thick, juicy strokes of red, yellow, and blue, while others dissolve into the leafy background. See how Chagall doesn't seem too fussed about the 'rules' of colour? The way the ground isn't really ground, or how the figures blend into the green. It's the kind of playful approach that gives you the feeling that anything can happen, and maybe it will. Chagall’s work always makes me think of Joan Miró, another artist who wasn’t afraid to make things a little strange, and in that strangeness, find a kind of deeper truth. After all, art is a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas and feelings. Isn't it?