Oil paint on cardboard
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/marc-chagall-881" aria-label="More by Marc Chagall" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Marc Chagall</a>
Poet Reclining
Purchased 1942
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<p>Chagall had just married his first wife Bella when he began this painting. It is a reverie in which he imagines himself outstretched in the Russian countryside where they spent their honeymoon. He remembered it as a place of 'wood, fir-trees, solitude. The moon behind the forest. The pig in the sty, the horse behind the window, in the fields. The sky lilac.' Though an idyllic scene, the figure seems oddly isolated. This may relate to the fact that Chagall painted it during the First World War, a conflict then being fought on Russian soil.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint cardboard
3 August 2001 – 8 December 2002
2002-12-08
3 August 2001 – 8 December 2002
2002-12-08
2001-08-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2001-08-03
Fantastic Worlds
Collection based display
11 March 2003 – 4 November 2003
2003-11-04
11 March 2003 – 23 June 2003
2003-06-23
2003-03-11
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
26 July 2003 – 4 November 2003
2003-11-04
2003-07-26
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, USA)
2003-03-11
Marc Chagall
Loan-out
1 February 2005 – 31 July 2005
2005-07-31
1 February 2005 – 30 April 2005
2005-04-30
2005-02-01
State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia)
1 May 2005 – 31 July 2005
2005-07-31
2005-05-01
State Russian Museum (St Petersburg, Russia)
http://www.rusmuseum.ru
2005-02-01
Marc Chagall
Loan-out
6 July 2007 – 19 November 2007
2007-11-19
6 July 2007 – 19 November 2007
2007-11-19
2007-07-06
Fondation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, Switzerland)
2007-07-06
Chagall: Entre ciel et terre
Loan-out
3 December 2010 – 27 March 2011
2011-03-27
3 December 2010 – 27 March 2011
2011-03-27
2010-12-03
Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
http://seoulmoa.org/html/eng/menu01/contents05.jsp
2010-12-03
Chagall : Magician of Color II
Loan-out
5 March 2011 – 10 July 2011
2011-07-10
5 March 2011 – 10 July 2011
2011-07-10
2011-03-05
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, USA)
http://www.philamuseum.org
2011-03-05
Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle
Loan-out
14 February 2012 – 20 May 2012
2012-05-20
14 February 2012 – 20 May 2012
2012-05-20
2012-02-14
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, Spain)
2012-02-14
Marc Chagall Retrospective
Loan-out
8 February 2013 – 6 October 2013
2013-10-06
8 February 2013 – 12 May 2013
2013-05-12
2013-02-08
Kunsthaus Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland)
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/
7 June 2013 – 6 October 2013
2013-10-06
2013-06-07
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2013-02-08
Chagall: Modern Master
Exhibition
8 February 2013 – 29 September 2013
2013-09-29
8 February 2013 – 12 May 2013
2013-05-12
2013-02-08
Kunsthaus Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland)
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/
2013-02-08
Chagall: Modern Master
Loan-out
17 September 2014 – 28 June 2015
2015-06-28
17 September 2014 – 1 February 2015
2015-02-01
2014-09-17
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
27 February 2015 – 28 June 2015
2015-06-28
2015-02-27
Musée royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium)
http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/
2014-09-17
Marc Chagall
Loan-out
23 September 2016 – 22 January 2017
2017-01-22
23 September 2016 – 22 January 2017
2017-01-22
2016-09-23
Towner (Eastbourne, UK)
http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/
2016-09-23
Tom Hammick: Towards Night
Loan-out
27 September 2024 – 10 August 2025
2025-08-10
27 September 2024 – 9 February 2025
2025-02-09
2024-09-27
Albertina Museum (Vienna, Austria)
http://www.albertina.at/en
15 March 2025 – 10 August 2025
2025-08-10
2025-03-15
K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf, Germany)
2024-09-27
Marc Chagall
Loan-out
The Poet Reclining
support: 772 × 775 mm
frame: 953 × 960 × 91 mm
Purchased 1942
<p>Chagall had just married his first wife Bella when he began this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>. It is a reverie in which he imagines himself outstretched in the Russian countryside where they spent their honeymoon. He remembered it as a place of 'wood, fir-trees, solitude. The moon behind the forest. The pig in the sty, the horse behind the window, in the fields. The sky lilac.' Though an idyllic scene, the figure seems oddly isolated. This may relate to the fact that Chagall painted it during the First World War, a conflict then being fought on Russian soil. </p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Marc Chagall</b><span> born 1887 [- 1985] </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chagall-the-poet-reclining-n05390" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05390</span></a> </span><b>Le Poète allongé</b><span> (The Poet reclining) 1915 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'M. Chagall | 1915' b.l. and in cyrillic 'Chagall' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on millboard, 30 3/8 x 30 1/2 (77 x 77.5)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from H.T. de Vere Clifton through the Leicester Galleries (Knapping Fund) 1942</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
Roger de La Fresnaye, Paris (purchased from the artist through Galerie Pierre, Paris, </span><i>c.</i><span>1924); Georges de Miré, 1925 with Galerie Pierre, Paris; the artist; through Arthur Tooth and Sons, London; H.T. de Vere Clifton, Lytham, 1937</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, Kunsthalle, Basle, November-December 1933 (39) as 'Le Sour'; </span><i>Les Maitres de l'Art Indépendant</i><span>
1895-1937, Petit Palais, Paris, June-October 1937 (Room 20, 136); </span><i>New Year Exhibition</i><span>, Leicester Galleries, London, January 1942 (97); </span><i>The Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, National Gallery, London, April-May 1942 (24); </span><i>A Selection from the Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, CEMA touring exhibition, September 1942-September 1943 (9); </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, Tate Gallery, February 1948 (19); </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, Kunstverein, Hamburg, February-March 1959 (57, repr.); Haus der Kunst, Munich, April-May 1959 (57, repr.); Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, June-September 1959 (57, repr.); </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, October-November 1960 (11, repr.); </span><i>Chagall</i><span>, Kunsthaus, Zurich, May-July 1967 (54, repr.); Wallraf-Richartz-Museum exhibition in the Kunsthalle, Cologne, September-October 1967 (61, repr.); </span><i>Hommage à Marc Chagall</i><span>, Grand Palais, Paris, December 1969-March 1970 (46, repr.); </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, March-May 1970 (23, repr. in colour)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Marc Chagall, </span><i>Ma Vie</i><span> (Paris 1931), p.181; Franz Meyer, </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span> (London 1964), p. 237, repr. p. 260</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
André Salmon, </span><i>Chagall</i><span>
(Paris 1928), pl.19; John Rothenstein, </span><i>The Tate Gallery</i><span> (London 1958), p.149 in colour </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>According to Mme Ida Meyer-Chagall (letter of 30 October 1952), the artist said that this picture was painted in Russia during the honeymoon following his first marriage. 'I was resting in front of our house!' </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>It may be compared with a passage in his autobiography, where he describes the days after the marriage: </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>'At last we are alone in the country. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>'Woods, fir-trees, solitude. The moon behind the forest. The pig in the sty, the horse behind the window, in the fields. The sky lilac.' </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>It has also been known as 'Evening' (as is proved by a label on the back) and 'The Poet', but Chagall says that he prefers the title 'Le Poète allongé'. He does not think it was the picture of 1915 called '<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>Landscape</span></a> in Lilac' shown in his one-man exhibitions at the Galerie Barbazanges Hodebert, Paris, the Kunstverein, Cologne, and the Galerie Arnold, Dresden, in 1924-5. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>The stretcher has the stamp of a German art supplier, Leopold Hess of Berlin, and the edges of the millboard appear to have been trimmed slightly all round. It would seem to have been mounted on a stretcher during Chagall's stay in Berlin in 1922-3. There is a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photograph</span></a> of his Paris studio taken in 1924 which shows it hanging on the wall (repr. James Johnson Sweeney, </span><i>Marc Chagall</i><span>, New York 1946, p.53). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.110-11, reproduced p.110</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults agricultural animals: mammals architecture barn cities, towns, villages (non-UK) clothing and personal items countries and continents Europe Europe, Eastern Europe field fir forest hat horse landscape literary lying down man objects people pig places poet reclining Russia stable Vitebsk work and occupations