A few years ago, my husband, who lived in the French city of Nancy for work, took me to Metz with the excuse that we had to visit its cathedral, not only because of my passion for the Gothic world, but because a surprise awaited me there that he couldn't reveal. Known as the Lantern of the Lord for the number of stained-glass windows that comprise it, it was one of its chapels that strongly caught my attention because, suddenly, that concept of heavenly Jerusalem that seemed so abstract to me during my years of study, turned into an incredibly magical experience thanks to the stained-glass windows that Chagall designed between 1958 and 1968 for the Saint-Étienne Cathedral.
Born into a Jewish family in Vitebsk ---present-day Belarus---, Marc Chagall's artistic interests led him to move to Paris at the beginning of the 20th century where he would reach his artistic maturity, only to return to his country of origin years later, and participate in its cultural renewal. Discrepancies with some of his contemporaries, such as Malevich and his insistence on mixing politics and art, led him back to another country, Germany. But his Jewish condition and the situation in Europe pushed him to emigrate again, although this time, it had to be to the United States, not to return to France until after the Second World War.
The Diocesan Museum of Barcelona offers us, until the end of October, an exhibition with about forty of his works, including etchings and lithographs, that directly dialogue with the Gothic pieces from the museum's own collection, along two marked axes: love as a driving force and human passions. Articulated in a couple of spaces, we can enjoy both one of the first series of engravings he produced in 1926 commissioned by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, The Seven Deadly Sins, as well as a part of the series he created around the Bible, where he focused on the female characters of the Old Testament.
About forty of his works, including etchings and lithographs, directly dialogue with the Gothic pieces from the museum's own collectionLiving through two world wars, and being Jewish, must have marked him profoundly, but his dreamlike work, full of light, color, and a great deal of hope, acquires an emotional and spiritual dimension that speaks to us of his memories, his nostalgia, mixed with the imagery of Russian popular folklore, and his own religious tradition. As Helena Alonso, curator of the exhibition, points out, the artist wanted to convey with his works "the joy of living that is in the tradition of Hasidic Judaismand disseminate "a universal message of love, which for him is a driving force in his life and in which he trusts despite all the vicissitudes he suffered".
It is interesting and very enriching how this exhibition has been organized with the idea that the pieces question each other while also questioning the viewer, trying, in the same way Chagall did, to find those common points that not only unite the Jewish and Christian religions, but all human beings in a message of peace. But even more interesting is Chagall's vision of female characters, giving them a new dimension and update back in the 60s, in search of universal values that can well reach to this day and be fully linked with our empowerment as women, to contrast with the figures of Gothic virgins.
If they wanted to be innovative and surprise in anything, it was in creating a playlist through the Spotify platform so that music brings us a little closer to the artist and goes beyond the exhibition space itself, covering everything from the musical tradition that may have accompanied him in Jewish celebrations, those pieces he liked or those that inspired him to create works, such as The Ceiling of the Paris Opera.
The pieces question each other while also questioning the viewer, trying to find those common points that not only unite the Jewish and Christian religions, but all human beings.A multidisciplinary artist, he not only excelled in the field of painting, but also ceramics, engraving, illustration, and stained glass are part of his production, as well as his collaborations in set designs and costumes during the time he was in charge of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Although he also received commissions to decorate temples and places of worship of other faiths different from his own. And it is that the spirituality that emanates from Chagall's works is above any cult, because it appeals to the emotion and magic that resides in the human soul. "In the painter's palette ---he affirmed--- there is only one color that gives meaning to life and art: the color of love