I will be writing about the piece "Autour d'Elle, which was made by Mr. Chagall in 1945, shortly after his wife's death. It is said that he painted it to show his sadness about his wife's passing. It is also said that this started a new chapter in his paintings, one that showed a darker, sadder side.
I see the change in Mr. Chagall's artwork, from before and after his wife died. The paintings before she died are very colorful and cheerful, but after, they seem to be more mysterious. This is one of the few times that I think that a deeper meaning could be seen in something like this, if you looked close and thought about it enough.
The painting itself has a lot of interesting elements to it. For the most part, it is very dark, except for a small bird-like creature holding a candle in the upper left hand corner, and what looks to be like a village in the center of the painting. A man with an upside-down head is in the bottom left hand part of the piece and the man seems to be holding a painting palate.
I think that this shows how the last bits of happiness seems to be slipping away from Chagall's life. The bird creature holds a small candle, lighting up a small area of the painting. The village in the center of the painting could be Vitesbk, the town that Chagall grew up in,. where he had a lot of happy times. It is very bright, but storm clouds look to be closing in on it, indicating a turbulent time coming. The man with the upside down head could be Chagall himself, with the upside down head showing that the death of his wife turned his view of the world upside down.
What analyzing this painting showed me was that all things could be analyzed, but only some things have meaning. It really surprised me how Mr. Chagall expressed his sadness through painting, or even that he would continue painting after such a traumatic thing happened.
Autore d'elle
Mark Chagall 1945
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