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La Vie paysanne (Peasant Life)

Marc Chagall (Belarusian, 1887–1985). La Vie paysanne (Peasant Life), 1925. Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches (100 x 80 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1941 (RCA1941:16). © Estate of Marc Chagall / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

© Estate of Marc Chagall / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Marc Chagall / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Marc Chagall / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Marc Chagall

Belarusian, born Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus), active in France, 1887-1985

La Vie paysanne (Peasant Life), 1925

oil on canvas

support: 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches (100.01 x 80.01 cm); framed: 48 3/8 x 40 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches (122.87 x 102.87 x 5.72 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1941

RCA1941:16

Currently On View

More Details

Inscriptions

signature, dated / lower left / M. ChAgAll 1925

Provenance

the artist;
to Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1941;
sold to the Albright Art Gallery, October 9, 1941

Class

Paintings (visual works)

Work Type

Oil painting (visual work)

This information may change due to ongoing research. Glossary of Terms

Marc Chagall’s early life in a region of what was then Russia (now Belarus) formed the underlying basis of his artistic themes. Works like Peasant Life call on his happy memories and the joyful beliefs of Hasidic Judaism, such as the importance of emotion over intellect and the delight in experiencing a loving creator all around you. 

Label from Picasso: The Artist and His Models, November 5, 2016–February 19, 2017

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Other Works by This Artist

Animals

Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash)
Giacomo Balla
Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash) ,
Horse with Head Lowered
Edgar Degas
Horse with Head Lowered ,
Study of a Cavalier
Edgar Degas
Étude de cavalier (Study of a Horseman) ,
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams
Jacob Landau
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams ,
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams
Jacob Landau
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams ,
Angular wolves inhabit this semiabstract landscape inhabited by angular wolves. One brown, one orange, and one blue-black animal, all three crouched and on the prowl, enter from the right side of the painting. All have hollowed-out eyes. Another black wolf lies sleeping or dead at the left on the canvas. The tone of the painting is dark and brooding despite the expressive yellow sunset at the top, blue flames of a fire in the foreground, and two pink flowers at lower right.
Franz Marc
Die Wölfe (Balkankrieg) [The Wolves (Balkan War)] ,
This painting features a beige-color room full of fantastical creatures performing music and acrobatics, and floating through the air. These colorful beings are shaped like musical instruments, insects, animals, and mermaids and interact with instruments, musical notes, a ladder, dice, unicycle, a shooting star, and other objects. A window at top right looks out onto a landscape, and beneath it is a table with a fish, a globe, and papers.
Joan Miró
Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) ,
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night)
Joan Miró
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night) ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Dieter Roth
2 Times 5 Dogs ,
Zum Welttierschutztag (For World Animal Day) from the portfolio Fromage a Durer
Klaus Staeck
Zum Welttierschutztag (For World Animal Day) from the portfolio Fromage a Durer ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

unknown Mexican
Head of a Monkey ,

Surrealism

Non loin du soleil, de la lune et des 'etoiles (Not far from the sun, the moon and the stars)
Jean (Hans) Arp
Non loin du soleil, de la lune et des 'etoiles (Not far from the sun, the moon and the stars) ,
Unbreakable Rabbit Drummer (Robert Cornell modification)
Joseph Cornell
Unbreakable Rabbit Drummer (Robert Cornell modification) ,
Tall dark green and black rectangles rise from a diamond patterned ground at the bottom of this vertically oriented painting. The shapes are taller than they are wide and grouped together like a dense thicket of branchless tree trunks. Each is patterned with a set of irregular white dashes and other marks. Black, cloud-like shapes emerge from the upper left corner and center right edge of the soft gray background.
Max Ernst
Époque des forêts (Age of Forests) ,
L'objet invisible (Mains tenant le vide) [Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void)]
Alberto Giacometti
L'objet invisible (Mains tenant le vide) [Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void)] ,
Wehgeweihtes Kind (Child Consecrated to Suffering)
Paul Klee
Wehgeweihtes Kind (Child Consecrated to Suffering) ,
Die Hese mit dem Kamm (The Witch with the Comb)
Paul Klee
Die Hese mit dem Kamm (The Witch with the Comb) ,
La Philosophie et la peinture de Rene Magritte (Volume I)
René Magritte
La Philosophie et la peinture de Rene Magritte (Volume I) ,
Contemplation de l'abime (Contemplation of the Abyss)
André Masson
Contemplation de l'abime (Contemplation of the Abyss) ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

André Masson
Crouching Woman ,
La Mer du Temps from Serie Or (The Sea of Time from the Gold Series)
Roberto Matta
La Mer du Temps from Serie Or (The Sea of Time from the Gold Series) ,
This painting features a beige-color room full of fantastical creatures performing music and acrobatics, and floating through the air. These colorful beings are shaped like musical instruments, insects, animals, and mermaids and interact with instruments, musical notes, a ladder, dice, unicycle, a shooting star, and other objects. A window at top right looks out onto a landscape, and beneath it is a table with a fish, a globe, and papers.
Joan Miró
Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) ,
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night)
Joan Miró
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night) ,
Frosted Objects (of my Affection)
Man Ray
Frosted Objects (of my Affection) ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Kurt Seligmann
Slaying of Laius from the series Oedipus ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Kurt Seligmann
Study for "John without Land Cleaned by the Void" ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Kurt Seligmann
Study for "The Sphinx" ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Kurt Seligmann
Two illustrations for A Primitive like an Orb (poem by Wallace Stevens) ,
Two biomorphic forms sit side by side in the foreground of this abstract, dream-like landscape. The smaller form on the left includes a gray square with red sticks emerging from its left side. Narrow gray stalks support the blue and pink shapes that make up the taller form on the right, which casts a long shadow toward the top left corner of the painting. Nine small circular discs with white sides and blue surfaces appear scattered throughout the scene.
Yves Tanguy
Divisibilité indéfinie (Indefinite Divisibility) ,

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