The Pompidou shows the backstage of the frescoes that Chagall painted in the Opera Garnier

A new exhibition presented at the Pompidou Center about the Franco-Russian artist reveals the behind the scenes of this magnificent work thanks to a recent donation from his two granddaughters.

Although "Chagall à l'oeuvre, Dessins, céramiques et Sculptures (1945-1970)" covers other themes and episodes in the artist's life, the "making-of" of the frescoes at the Opéra Garnier play a predominant role.

A good part of the hundred sketches and models exhibited from this Wednesday until February 2024 describe the conception of these iconic frescoes, and offer the viewer a reflection on the process of their artistic creation.

"When he painted the dome of the Opera, we know that he listened to music and he himself says that he listened to Mozart during all that work," explains Anne Montfort, one of the curators (curators) of the exhibition.

Music lover and violinist, Chagall (1887-1985) needed music to be able to create.

"He conceived his work in terms of musical rhythm, he saw sounds in colors," says Montfort, while referring to the series of sketches and sketches in which the artist first plays with colors, before moving on to the choice of figures. .

A choice conditioned - according to the curator - by the marks left on her by her Jewish culture and her Russian origins (reflected, for example, in the shapes of the Katchina dolls).

In the case of the frescoes of the Opera Garnier, the exhibition makes clear the social upheaval that the then Minister of Culture, the writer and intellectual André Malraux, caused by commissioning the frescoes of a nineteenth-century building from a modern painter.

«The criticism was directed above all at Malraux. What Chagall was reproached for was being modern. The one that criticized the most was the conservative press,” says Montfort.

Due to the notoriety that these frescoes gave him, the Russian painter of Jewish origin was also the target of anti-Semitic insults and a certain prejudice due to his age. He was 75 years old when he painted the dome.

"At that time the criticism was as fierce as what we see on the networks today," he warns.

In response to those who then claimed that Chagall earned a lot of money for the frescoes, the curator also reveals that in reality he was not remunerated. "He only asked to be reimbursed for the material used," she says.

The exhibition, which has seen the light of day thanks to the donation of Chagall's two granddaughters, Bella and Meret Meyer, also includes five ceramics, seven sculptures, as well as sketches of the dresses and curtains from the ballet "The Firebird" by Igor Stravinsky, performed in 1945 at the Ballet Theater in New York. EFE