Bride, Mark Chagall – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Mark Zakharovich Shagal
- Museum: Private collection
- Year: 1950
Overview of the painting :
Bride – Mark Zakharovich Shagal. 1950. Gouache, pastel 68 x 215; 53 cm
The image of the bride is found more than once in the canvases of Mark Chagall, especially on the eve of the wedding of the painter on Belle Rosenfeld. However, the presented work of the Bride stands out from the general series – Bella has long been alive, and this is not a ode of love and tenderness.
The picture combines both the features inherent in the style of the author, familiar and recognizable, and innovative ideas. First of all, the innovations concern the choice of a color palette – a blue-gray background with a set of symbolic and fantastic images, in the foreground of which the bride speaks. She is wearing a red dress and a white veil to the floor, and in her hands is a green branch of flowers – the girl seems to be leaving the canvas, rushing to the viewer. One critic once noticed that looking at this picture, it seems that this girl is not someone’s abstract narrowed, namely yours, and her attentive eyes of small eyes are aimed at you.
The composition of the picture “gather” from various national Jewish leitmotifs is a goat playing the cello, a flutist musician, a girl with pigtails. The author also saturated the space of the canvas with symbols, such as fish with a candle in the fin, a squirrel under the cello, and, of course, a church that cannot be immediately seen. A man surrounds the bright bride with attention – he either affectionately hugs the girl, or carefully straightens the veil on her head.
The image of the girl turned out to be somehow fantastic and unrealistic. It is not surprising that many interpret this work of a painter as an attempt to express longing for what they have long lost.
An interesting fact: the picture of “The Bride” can be seen on a poster in the apartment of the protagonist in the film “Notting Hill” with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. This was due to the fact that the screenwriter of the famous film is a big fan of Chagall and could not miss the opportunity to “provide” it in one of the scenes.