The Arums 1975

Marc Chagall made this print called The Arums using etching and aquatint. I imagine the plate being worked, the acid biting around the lines. I’m looking at these bold black lines defining the petals, and that hazy ground, and picturing Chagall making choices, weighing up each mark, letting the image emerge through the inky depths. There’s a sense of play in his style that feels so free. It's like he’s saying anything is possible. He’s someone who I always find myself in conversation with; his sense of colour, form, and storytelling speaks to my own experience. The Arums are floating on the picture plane in that magical realist way. Chagall’s visual language, those poetic arrangements, remind us that artists are constantly borrowing, influencing, and reimagining each other’s ideas. And painting? Well, it’s an invitation to think, feel, and see in new ways.