Chagall at the National

'Time will show what will become of my work,' wrote the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, 'a brilliant butterfly, or a maggot.' For some artists (and Friedrich himself teeters on this border) the butterfly becomes so dazzling that the art itself takes on a wholly unexpected life. Postcards, drink mats, t-shirts, mugs, CD covers, fridge magnets.... the butterfly flutters in ways that the artist could hardly have imagined. This is much the same for composers whose works are tagged onto TV advertisements and cartoons. On a good day in the afterlife, you imagine that the artist would be highly amused by this sort of marketing, on a bad day (I wonder if you can get out of bed on the wrong side in the next world?) they are surely spinning in their graves. (Of course, if they are in hell, they can at least console themselves that they have some sort of adulation upstairs).

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), along with Klimt, Monet, Van Gogh and co, is part of that tiny group of painters whose works are sold for tens of millions of dollars, and whose style is so familiar that it would probably even be recognised on some undiscovered island in the Indian Ocean. It can be difficult to hear Beethovens's Fifth Symphony with fresh ears, or look at the Mona Lisa anew, but the current Chagall show at the National is a stunner.

The argument that less is more is true to form here. This small exhibition came to Cracow by a stroke of good fortune, as Cracow was involved in a joint festival with Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt's Opera House is the lucky owner of 'Commedia dell' Arte' a huge painting completed by Chagall in 1959. Until May 27th, the painting is being shown at the National alongside a handful of preparatory sketches. Standing before it, one can't help feeling that Chagall is fully deserving of all the adulation he gets. What a painting! The Belarusian artist was a true original, managing to be both amusing and magical at the same time. Don't miss the chance to have a look!



March Chagall: Commedia dell 'Arte - National Museum, Cracow, ul. 3 Maja 1