Conversano reveals Marc Chagall’s “Dream of Love”.

Conversano Castle (Bari) tells the life and works of one of the greatest interpreters of 20th century painting: Marc Chagall. Curated by Dolores Duran Ucar with the scientific dissemination of Francesca Villanti, ‘Love dream’ showcases more than 100 works including paintings, drawings, watercolors and engravings, coming from private collections and certified by the Fondation Chagallwhich allow us to retrace the painter’s artistic career from 1925 until his death.

Jew of Belarusian origin, Chagall reaches Paris in 1910 where he witnessed the ferment of the pictorial environment of Matisse, Picasso e Braque. Having returned to Russia in 1914 to take part in the Revolution, the artist was appointed commissioner for fine arts. The contrast with abstract painters and the Government, however, pushed him to return to the Ville Lumière in 1923. Influenced by expressionist currents, the artist drew inspiration from Orphic Cubism to create works of dreamlike and fantastic inspiration. In his works there are recurring evocations of the peasant world but also references to the rites and traditions of the Jewish religion.

Articulated in five sections, the exhibition begins with a set of oils, gouache and drawings that retrace the experiences lived by the artist. This is the case, for example, of the childhood spent in Vitebsk, described with love and nostalgia, but also of marital love and family. The second section is dedicated to ‘Story of the Exodus’ which the author depicts as an allegory of the persecution suffered by the Jews following the Nazi invasion of France during the Second World War. Through 24 scenes, Chagall represents the adventure of the Jewish people who, thanks to faith in God, escape from slavery in Egypt to reach the Promised Land. The journey continues with illustrations for ‘Fables of La Fontaine’ commissioned from the artist in 1927 by the French gallery owner Ambroise Vollard. This is a pictorial period characterized by the predominance of the expressive value of color and by an increasingly free compositional structure that superimposes images. Chagall’s great imaginative ability finds wide application in the imaginative illustrations to the texts of the major writers of his time. In the fourth section we find, not surprisingly, the images created for the literary works of Second Breton, Guillaume Apollinaire and of Chagall himself, author of the books ‘My life’ e ‘Poems’. The final part of the route is dedicated to ‘Behind the mirror’, a collection of lithographs made in 1954 in Paris. The colorful images reproduce the most representative architectural monuments of the city populated by fantastic characters. Promoted and supported by Municipality of Conversano, city of art and museumthe exhibition is produced and organized by Artemisia.