The Lion and the Ass 1927 - 1930

Marc Chagall made this etching, The Lion and the Ass, whenever, using who knows what kind of metal plate and acid. The way he's built up these areas of dense, scribbly lines, it's like he's thinking with the tool itself, letting the marks pile up and create these almost vibrating surfaces. Look closely at the trees, how they're not just outlines but masses of tiny, energetic strokes. It's almost as if he's not depicting trees but conjuring them, building them up from the ground with pure energy. And then, notice the open spaces, the areas where the plate is barely touched. These bits of nothingness become just as important as the dense parts, giving the whole image a sense of lightness, like it could all float away at any moment. I see echoes of Rembrandt in the way Chagall uses light and shadow, but with a distinctly modern, dreamlike twist. Art is always in conversation with itself, a remix of ideas and approaches across time.