Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Psaume de David (PL.7)

Very beautiful impression in black on an ochre background.

Technique: etching and aquatint
Support: Arches Velin paper
Numbering: 14/40
Signature: Signed by hand
Dimensions of sheets: 38.3 × 28.5 cm
Framing: Gold moulding and acrylic glass

Condition: Good condition

Authentication: Work sold with certificate of authenticity. Referenced under Cramer 109.

Information about the work:

The Psalms of David occupy a singular place in Marc Chagall’s oeuvre, as the natural culmination of a life deeply traversed by biblical spirituality and Jewish memory. Throughout his career, Chagall continually drew from sacred texts — from the Bible lithographed with Tériade to the Jerusalem stained glass — and the Psalms, with their ardent lyricism and constant tension between lamentation and praise, resonated deeply with his most intimate sensibility.

This series devoted to this fundamental text is distinguished by an economy of means put at the service of maximum intensity: floating figures, musicians, lovers and angels dissolve into an inner light that transcends anecdote to reach the universal. The black and ochre palette, the preferred range of these graphic works, establishes a restrained gravity, far from the festive colors that made Chagall famous — as if the subject itself imposed its own silence.

Rare and particularly sought after by discerning collectors, the works from this cycle are among the most accomplished expressions of the artist’s maturity. They testify to the unbroken dialogue between faith, memory and creation that Chagall was perhaps one of the few 20th-century artists to maintain with such coherence over nearly nine decades of work.