L’angelot Dans Le Bouquet c. 1938 - 1939

Marc Chagall made this painting called L’angelot Dans Le Bouquet with oil paint, layering reds, greens, and yellows. Look closely, and you can see the individual brushstrokes, almost like the painting is made of colorful little tiles. I can imagine Chagall really working the surface, adding and subtracting, trying to get the balance just right. It's interesting how he’s got this tension between abstraction and representation. You can see the bouquet, sure, but it's also about the pure joy of color and texture. He’s not trying to trick you into thinking you're looking at real flowers. It reminds me of some of my own struggles in the studio, trying to find that sweet spot where the painting feels both real and not real at the same time. What was he thinking when he made this? I think Chagall is saying that painting itself is a kind of dream space, a place where anything is possible. It reminds me that artists are always talking to each other across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.