In 2016, one of my longtime clients came to me with a request: Find a painting from Belarussian master Marc Chagall (1887-1985). From the time I initiated my search for the perfect Chagall, we located several privately-owned works which held promise. For different reasons, none of the paintings were “just right”. Some sold before we completed our due diligence, an essential part of selling a private market 20th Century masterpiece. Others didn’t fit the budget, theme, colorway, or size.

However, at the start of this summer, we located “Bouc lisant en amoureux et soleil rouge au-dessus de Vitebsk” (c. 1983) from a private collection in Paris. Our client loved it. I mean, he really loved it. This was the one. 

“Bouc lisant” (Tr. Goat Reading) muses on Chagall’s wistful memories of the past while conveying his present happiness. It contains several of the most significant elements in the artist’s allegorical visual language: An embracing couple in the red sun, flowers, a goat reading a book, overt romanticism, dreamlike imagery, and Chagall’s native town of Vitebsk, where he first expressed himself artistically. Despite the irrevocable changes Vitebsk experienced during both world wars, the artist found emotional and mental refuge in the harmony of rural life.

She is truly a lovely work.

As private art dealers, clients often make requests for us to find artworks which are not on the public market and cannot be found online. They will give us certain criteria points such as artist, theme, scale and budget, and we get to work finding the perfect artwork for them. Sometimes this happens quickly, and other times… It takes a while.

The Chagall is now hanging in our client’s home in Colorado. He told me “I’ve wanted a Chagall since I was 16. This is the culmination of a dream”. 

After 27 years of selling art, I guess it’s fair to say we make dreams happen.

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