The Birthday by Marc Chagall - 1915 - 80.6 x 99.7 cm Museum of Modern Art The Birthday by Marc Chagall - 1915 - 80.6 x 99.7 cm Museum of Modern Art

The Birthday

oil on cardboard • 80.6 x 99.7 cm
  • Marc Chagall - July 6, 1887 - March 28, 1985 Marc Chagall 1915

Russian born painter Marc Chagall called “love” the primary color of his paintings. Bella, his wife, was the love of his life. They met when Bella was a teenager in their home town of Vitebsk, Belarus. Chagall’s original name was Moyshe Shagal when he was born in 1887. The Birthday was painted by Chagall in 1915 just a few weeks before he and Bella married on 25 July 1915. The painting is a wonderful expression of the amazing, flowing and powerful love these two shared. Chagall is pictured flowing and dreamlike, floating above Bella. His head is unrealistically craned upside down and backward as he twists around to kiss his future wife on the mouth. The Birthday is a marvelous creation which powerfully conveys that feeling of euphoric love between young lovers in a blissful yet ordinary setting that seems to ooze happiness out of every square inch of canvas.

Justynka, this one is for you - for the bravest girl I know !<3