Les Lumières du mariage
1945
not on displayMarc Chagall1887 Witebsk – 1985 Saint-Paul de Vence
We have 15 artworks by Marc Chagall online.
We have 1824 paintings online.
We have 1824 paintings online.
To celebrate Valentine's Day, a wedding painting cannot be missing: here a depiction of a rural Russian wedding painted in 1909 by the then 22-year-old Marc Chagall. The small wedding party moves leisurely along the dusty village street. A violinist in a soldier's uniform leads the procession, the rabbi walks beside him. Only the bride shines in glistening white, everything else bears witness to the poor life in the countryside. From the opposite side of the street, an old man watches the solemn procession, a heavy yoke with two buckets hanging from it weighing over his shoulders.
Chagall, who came from an Orthodox Jewish family, began to capture the sparse life of the rural milieu in the Russian province in 1907. The somewhat naïve style reflects the artist's preoccupation with folk traditions, especially those of his Jewish origins. Chagall, who was always drawn to the big city – first to St. Petersburg, then to Paris – captures here, full of nostalgia, a memory of his old homeland.
Also known as
Die Lichter der Hochzeit
The Lights of Marriage
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
image: 123 x 120 cm
Inventory number
1973/0031
Credit line
Kunsthaus Zürich, Donated by the heirs of Ernst Göhner, 1973