Etude pour ‘Le Baou de Saint-Jeannet’ 1969

Marc Chagall painted this dreamlike landscape, "Etude pour ‘Le Baou de Saint-Jeannet'," with what feels like pure emotion. The palette is rich, dark, punctuated by bursts of color, all brought to life with a vibrant, almost frantic touch. What strikes me is how Chagall builds up the image. The paint application varies from thin washes to impasto, creating a surface that's both luminous and tactile. Look at the red sun bleeding into the sky, and the bouquet of flowers, built from thick daubs of yellow and blue. The way he handles paint is not about representation but feeling, conveying a world seen through the lens of memory and imagination. This piece reminds me a bit of some of Odilon Redon's work, who sought to depict the unseen and the spiritual through color and form. Like Redon, Chagall uses ambiguity to suggest possibilities beyond the canvas's edge.