New Year’s Card 1951

This lithograph by Marc Chagall features a dream-like scene created with a palette of blues, greens, reds, and yellows. I imagine Chagall, with the stone in front of him, thinking, erasing, thinking again, finding the shapes in his mind. It feels like he's inviting us into his own personal mythology, where the Eiffel Tower rubs shoulders with crowned, blue birds, and figures float in the sky. The lithographic crayon gives it a kind of chalky texture – makes me think of late nights, drawing furiously with pastels. And that crimson swirl there, behind the bird’s head, bursting with energy, it reminds me of Franz Kline. The way that single gesture can communicate so much feeling, so much life. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? How do artists keep the conversation going, across time, across styles, with just color and form? It’s like, you put something down, and then you wait, and then you respond, and the painting slowly reveals itself.