Marc Chagall, Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse), 1965

Artist: Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985)
Title:Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse), 1965
Medium:Collotype printed with colors and pochoir on cream wove paper.
Image Size:17 1/8 in x 20 7/8 in (43.4 cm x 53 cm)
Sheet Size:21 1/8 in x 25 in (53.6 cm x 63.5 cm)
Edition:Numbered from the edition of 300 in ink in the lower left margin; published by Guy Spitzer, Paris.
Signature:This work is hand signed by Marc Chagall (Vitebsk, 1887- Saint-Paul, 1985) in ink in the lower right margin.
ID #w-7713

Historical Description

Marc Chagall Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse), 1965 depicts a quiet, snowy evening in a small village; a young woman rides in the skies above with her animal companions as she glances down at the city beneath. Chagall himself rebukes those who would pin on him the direct influence of Russian folk tales or Jewish tradition: "There is nothing anecdotal in my picture - no fairy tales - no literature in the sense of folk-legend associations" (Chagall: A Retrospective, 149). But then, what to make of this world flipped on its head, of this snow-bound village hanging down from a curved horizon, the moon at the bottom of it all like some winter flower. Light refracts in prisms across the snowy earth and the rooster's yellow feathers echo the church dome at lower right. Chagall may not have meant to evoke his hometown, Vitebsk, with Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse) and its palette of pearly white, midnight blue and coral red; nonetheless he creates an image warm and familiar that captures a sense of being safe in one's house during a clear, frozen night.

Created c. 1954 after an original oil painting of the same title, Le Cheval Rouge is hand-signed by Marc Chagall in bold, blue ink in the lower right margin and numbered in the lower left 137/300. There is also a small description by the publisher on the reverse, indicating piece number, title, and publisher. Guy Spitzer engraved 'Marc Chagall - le cheval rouge' in the lower right of the plate, just above the signature. In addition, 'Guy Spitzer - Editeur Paris' is printed in the same manner, at the lower left margin just above the edition number.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Marc Chagall Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse), 1965 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

  1. Spitzer, Guy. Éditions Guy Spitzer, Reproductions de Tableaux de Maitres, Paris. Detailed and illustrated on pg. 5.
  2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Le Cheval Rouge (The Red Horse), 1965 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.

Subject Matter: Animals