Nature morte à Gordes 1939

Marc Chagall conjured this still life, Nature morte à Gordes, with paint on canvas. I can just imagine Chagall with his brushes, dancing around a table overflowing with nature's bounty. The colours! It's like a garden threw up on a tablecloth. Those eggplants, heavy with purple juice, nestled beside green beans, tomatoes and translucent grapes, and then, bam! a flask filled with the golden glow of liquid sunshine. The tabletop tilts, the forms wobble, and that tablecloth, a plaid gone wild, it's all a bit tipsy. Maybe Chagall had one too many glasses of wine while he was making it. But, honestly, that's what makes it so charming. Like a folk song, raw and heartfelt, it reminds me of Matisse’s experiments with colour and form, but with Chagall's signature dreamlike touch. It’s this spirit, passed from painter to painter that keeps the conversation going.