Marc Chagall, La Création (The Creation), Nude, 1960, Original Lithograph

Marc Chagall

La Création (The Creation)
from "Drawings for the Bible"

colour lithograph on paper
publisher: Verve, Paris
year: 1960
size: 355 x 264 mm

On the back: another black and white original Lithograph by Marc Chagall, mandatory in this edition.

Very Good Condition: complete image (no crop, no trim), wonderful colours, a hardly perceivable bump in the corner (see image)

with Gallery Certificate

Catalogue Raisonné:
Meret Meyer and Patrick Cramer, "Marc Chagall, Les Livres Illustrés", ref. # 42
Charles Sorlier and Fernand Mourlot, Chagall Lithographe, vol. II, ref. # 234
___

CHAGALL AND THE BIBLE

Marc Chagall’s Drawings for the Bible, published in 1960 as a special double issue of the legendary art magazine Verve, represents one of the most profound encounters between modern art and sacred text. While Chagall had been obsessed with biblical themes since his 1931 trip to Palestine, this specific suite allowed him to explore the narrative with a newfound technical mastery of colour lithography.

Working closely with the master printer Fernand Mourlot, Chagall created 24 vibrant color lithographs for this series. These works do not merely illustrate the Old Testament; they reimagine it through a dreamlike, Jewish-Eastern European lens. Chagall uses radiant blues, fiery reds, and golden yellows to transcend literal interpretation. The figures often float, defying gravity to suggest a spiritual reality that exists alongside the physical one.

For Chagall, the Bible was the "greatest source of poetry of all time." Through these lithographs, he sought to make the ancient prophets and patriarchs feel human and immediate. Today, this collection is celebrated not just as a religious milestone, but as a pinnacle of 20th-century printmaking, showcasing how Chagall could turn stone and ink into pure emotion.
___

ABOUT THIS VERY ARTWORK

In this evocative 1960 lithograph, La Création, Marc Chagall captures the nascent burst of life with a rhythmic, celestial energy. Moving away from the heavy reds of the Fall, this composition is bathed in a serene palette of luminous blues and moonlit grays, creating an atmosphere of divine quietude and wonder.

At the heart of the piece is a swirling, golden-white sun or moon, acting as a cosmic eye around which all life orbits. Angels float effortlessly in the upper registers—one blowing a shofar or trumpet to herald the new world. Below, the earth teems with a delightful, chaotic harmony: birds take flight, fish glide through the air as if it were water, and a whimsical donkey looks on. At the bottom, Adam and Eve appear as gentle participants in this miracle, nestled among fruiting trees. Chagall’s loose, expressive linework gives the scene a sense of weightless joy, depicting creation not as a rigid historical event, but as a continuous, poetic dream.