Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall 1887 - 1985 Mystère du Matin. 1946-1948. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left and on the stretcher. 61 x 51 cm (24 x 20 in). [JS]. • CHAGALL IN PERFECTION A stunning, magical blend of Chagall’s signature visual elements: flying lovers and radiant flowers, as well as rooster, goat, and window. • CRUCIAL YEARS Created after Bella’s death during his exile in the United States, “Mystère du Matin” symbolizes life between love, beauty, loss, and transience. • EXHIBITION Featured in the landmark Chagall retrospective in Tokyo in 1963 and in Toulouse in 1967. • MUSEUM QUALITY Similar paintings are at, among others, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate in London, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. • PROVENANCE Fully documented: acquired from Chagall for the New York collection of publisher Anton Schutz and subsequently hidden in a German private collection for nearly fifty years. • UPCOMING In 2027, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam honors the artist with the major retrospective “Becoming Marc Chagall”. PROVENANCE: Anton Schutz Collection (1894–1977), Scarsdale, New York (1948, acquired directly from the artist) Mrs. Herbert Schutz, Greenwich, New York (obtained from the above, until at least 1967). Weintraub Gallery, New York. Roman Norbert Ketterer, Lugano (circa 1977, acquired from the above). Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the above in 1977). In the family’s possession ever since. EXHIBITION: “Marc Chagall – Japan 1963,” National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Oct. 1–Nov. 12, 1963; Municipal Museum and National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Nov. 20–Dec. 10, 1963, cat. no. 83 (with black-and-white illustration; with the shipping label on the stretcher). Chagall et le Théâtre, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, June 15–September 15, 1967, p. 93, cat. no. 107 (no illustration, dated here 1946–1948). LITERATURE: Denis Milhau, Chagall et le Théatre, exhibition catalog, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse 1967, p. 93, cat. no. 108 (joint text on the two pendant-like paintings “Mystère du Matin” and “Enchantement du Soir”). “J'y ai exprimé la joie de vivre et le bonheur d'aimer que je voudrais communiquer à tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'Art.” (English: “In it, I expressed the joy of life and the happiness of love that I would like to convey to everyone with a love of art.”) Marc Chagall on “Mystère du Matin” in a letter to the owner in July 1977. “In comparison to the poetic visions of the pre-war period, this series of works [‘Mystère du Matin,’ ‘Enchantement du Soir’] reveals a sense of mystery and poetry inherent in the immediate perception of the world of flowers, resonating in harmony with love —that love which Chagall celebrates in memory of Bella and their relationship, and which will repeatedly enliven all his later works, indeed even and above all those with biblical motifs.” Denis Milhau, Chagall et le Théâtre, exhibition catalog, Toulouse 1967, p. 93, cat. no. 108 (text translated from French). “If all life inevitably comes to an end, we must fill our own lives with the colors of love and hope. I chose painting because it was as indispensable to me as food. It seemed to me like a window through which I could escape into another world.” Marc Chagall, Ma Vie, Paris, 1931. Called up: December 4, 2026 - ca. 17.56 h +/- 20 min.

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