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Birth

A colorful, lively scene, fragmented and abstracted, of numerous people on wooden floor, rolling green hills behind them. Figures include a nude woman on a bed,  an aproned woman with bucket, and man with a long white beard. A figure on the hill at top right does a cartwheel or handstand.
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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  • A colorful, lively scene, fragmented and abstracted, of numerous people on wooden floor, rolling green hills behind them. Figures include a nude woman on a bed,  an aproned woman with bucket, and man with a long white beard. A figure on the hill at top right does a cartwheel or handstand.

Date:

1911/12

Artist:

Marc Chagall
Born Vitebsk (formerly Russian Empire, now Belarus), 1887; died Saint-Paul, France, 1985

About this artwork

Marc Chagall’s Birth blends avant-garde aesthetics with traditions of eastern European Jewish life. The painting depicts the birth of Chagall’s brother David in the family home around 1892, an especially powerful memory from the artist’s early life.

The fractured and spiraling space evokes the luminosity of stained glass, representing the scene in a way that is at once modern and folkloric. The topsy-turvy perspective combines a home with a cacophonous performance. Against a starry sky, an acrobat jumps for joy, while below him, figures resembling circus performers relax at a table. To the left, away from the central action, a mother and newborn child are warmed by the red glow of an oven.

Status

On View, Gallery 392

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Marc Chagall

Title

Birth

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1911

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed, dated and inscribed, l.l.: "M. chagall/Paris/1911", inscribed l.c.: "Naissance"

Dimensions

113.4 × 195.3 cm (44 5/8 × 76 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Culberg

Reference Number

1952.3

Copyright

© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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