Paysan allongé 1964

Marc Chagall made this painting, Paysan allongé, with oils and gouache on paper. I imagine him gently layering those washes of red and blue, the brush barely touching the surface. Look at that big blue animal hovering above the ground – is it a cow or a donkey? – the colour is bold, and a little scary! It looms over a pile of bright red flowers, kind of threateningly. I wonder what Chagall was thinking when he put it there? Maybe it's about the beautiful and the terrifying, all mixed up together. I love how the colour feels like it’s bleeding into the paper, like a watercolor, but more intense. It reminds me a little of de Kooning's paintings, but with a fairy-tale twist. Painters are always looking at each other, borrowing ideas, and making something new. It’s like a big, messy conversation that never ends.