1914
Gray paper, gouache, oil paint, graphite pencil
49,3 х 37

Students of Chagal recollected how he told them unusual stories about the relations of objects in his composition and about their love and antipathy…. An ability to invest an inanimate object with feelings and thoughts characteristic of man is an inherent feature of Chagal’s artistic personality. The artist uses all forms according to his own discretion. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that the clock grows to unbelievable proportions with respect to the tiny figure of a man sitting by the window in front of the infinite nighttime gloom. Beyond the window time is eternity, whereas the wall clock measures man’s time. Juxtaposition, the likening of one phenomenon to another – is the foundation of Chagal’s artistic system. Metaphorical nature became one of the hallmarks of 20th century art. Therefore it is not surprising that Chagal’s art entered so organically into European culture, which experienced at the start of the 20th century an unusual diversity of artistic experiments.