Painted in 1965 when the Chagall was living in Vence, ‘Le peintre devant ‘le soleil rouge’’ is an intimate self-portrait of the artist in his studio. The painting incorporates many of the classic tropes seen in Chagall’s work, with the embracing couple soaring above the rooftops and the cockerel floating above the artist.

Self-portraits are an important part of Chagall’s oeuvre. The artist invariably depicts himself with palette in hand, signifying how he saw being an artist as his defining feature. In the work depicted on the easel, Chagall reimagines his 1949 ‘Le Soleil Rouge’, (Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan).

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Chagall’s works were predominantly a celebration of life and love. Although richly coloured and joyous there was often a tinge of solace within them. In ‘Le peintre devant ‘le soleil rouge’’ the couple reference is to Chagall’s wife Bella who tragically died in 1944. Although a personal motif, the figures take on a wider symbolic meaning, transcending realism and going beyond the artist’s own love.

‘Le Peintre devant ‘le soleil rouge’’ remained with Chagall during his life and was passed to his family upon his death.