The Poet with the Birds

My most recent artist obsession is Marc Chagall. I am attracted to his dreamy, magical imagery and his use of color. He created a style all his own by combining cubism and fauvism. Fauvism is one of my favorite art movements noted for it's bold, vibrant colors and Chagall truly mastered color. Pablo Picasso remarked, "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color is... Some of the last things he's done in Venice convince me that there's never been anybody since Renoir who has the feeling for light that Chagall has." 

Chagall was born in the ghetto of Vitebsk in 1887. Much of Chagall's work was of the characters and environment found in his hometown. In 1910 he received a grant enabling him to work in Paris where he was influenced by van Gogh, Gauguin, and Matisse. The works he produced during this time are, in my opinion, his best. Some examples are The Drunkard (1912), Paris through the Window (1913), Self-Portrait with Seven Digits (1913), and The Birthday (1915). The Birthday was created three weeks before Chagall married his wife Bella.

Much of Chagall's work is filled with romantic images of flowers and lovers flying through the sky. Chagall remained a romantic and expressed young love in his paintings until his death in 1985. I have a collection of Chagall's work on my Pinterest board, Chagall.

One of my favorite Chagall paintings is The Poet with the Birds (1911). I looked up the location of this painting and found it located at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. My husband's parents live outside of Minneapolis and we were visiting them over Easter. I called the museum and was told that they did not have this painting and to do a search on their site. After searching, I did not find that painting but found a list of other Chagall works. We decided to go ahead and visit the museum and lo and behold there was The Poet with the Birds, but we found none of the other Chagall's listed on their website. I am certainly happy we visited the museum! It's always better to see a painting up close.

Bunnies for Easter

Last weekend was Easter and Noelle's first Easter egg hunt. I knit some cute little bunnies for Noelle from Hadley Fierlinger's Nana's Bunnies pattern. The pattern can be found in her book Vintage Knits for Modern Babies or at Ravelry. Two of these bunnies were made for Noelle's baby cousins.

My mother felted an adorable chick inside of an Easter egg. Noelle loved it. You can find the free pattern and tutorial at Living Felt.

 

Noelle found all of the Easter eggs!