Mother and child
(Mère et enfant)
1948-1953
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
75.0 × 56.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2015
© Marc Chagall/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This picture is an outstanding example of the Madonna and Child series that Chagall painted between 1948 and 1953. This was inspired by the birth of his son David in 1946. Chagall’s family life in Vence in the French Riviera, where he settled in 1948, was one of stability and happiness. Its glowing palette recalls Chagall’s earlier contact with the Blaue Reiter movement, and many of the motifs, such as the goat, are found across Chagall’s extensive oeuvre, evidence of his lifelong fascination with the mythical beasts that were part of central European Jewish folklore.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Vence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Inscription
inscribed in white paint l.l.: ChAgAll MArC
inscribed in white paint l.r.: 1948–53
inscribed (vertially) in pen and ink on reverse u.c.l.: fenêtre/ portail
inscribed in black paint on reverse u.c.: MARC chagAll 1948
inscribed (diagonally) in black paint on reverse u.r.: 1953
Accession Number
2015.369
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Animals Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
children (people by age group) embracing goat (genus) moons Mother and Child (miscellaneous theme) mothers multi-coloured primary colours
Movements
Modernism