An Undying Love

Today, I would like to talk about a wonderful painting I've been trough during my art studies. As you already know (or may be not), one of my favorite artist is Marc Chagall. His way to express feelings by colors and symbols is just genius for me. I hope you will enjoy it as I did. This painting is an eternal proof of love …

Around Her by Marc Chagall

Bella Rosenfeld met Marc Chagall in the summer of 1909 on a visit to St Petersburg. Marc was an aspiring artist, in the throes of creating his now famous oeuvre. Bella, the daughter of a successful jeweler, was in the midst of her studies and acquiring a taste for writing. Their meeting was the beginning of an artist-muse relationship that would inspire some of Chagall’s best work, including 1945’s “Around Her.” The painting is one of the most moving homages to his love for her, as well an expression of grief over untimely death.

"Around Her" was executed a year after Bella's death, this painting says perhaps in a fairly accurate way, what was their relationship : the painter at the head overthrown, the leading painter in the air, and the bride , stable figure around which organize the universe of the artist, the painting on his easel and palette , Vitebsk in a bubble as a constraint to the present.

The painting represents several characters. The foreground represents Bella surrounding by clouds which suggest she is dead, and Marc Chagall with his head upside down which I talked about before but could express also a disturbed mind. In the center of the painting, there is an angel holding a kind of bubble which represents Vitebsk. On the right top angle, we can see Marc and Bella at their wedding lying on some plants, on the other hand the left top angle represents a dove flying, which often represents peace and lovers in Chagall's work.

This painting of Marc Chagall is really complex and possess a lot of allegories, we can say that Around Her reflects the undying love of Marc Chagall for Bella.