Marc Chagall is one of my favorite artists, I love his dreamy colorful paintings that can bring a smile to anyone's face. While his paintings are somewhat hard to find in the Paris museums, there is one place you can find one of his monumental pieces, and recently the Centre Pompidou held a special exhibit sharing a bit more of his process in creating it.
The Palais Garnier, one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris was inaugurated in 1875. In 1872 artist Jules Eugène Lenepveu painted the dome’s ceiling in the salle de spectacle. The Triumph of Beauty Charmed by Music, Among the Muses and the Hours of the Day & Night was on view over the spectators for almost 90 years. Created on copper plates and attached to a steel structure it would be damaged over time from the gas lighting used in the massive chandelier.
On February 20, 1960, at the gala for the President of Peru, Marc Chagall attended with friend and Minister of Culture, André Malroux. Chagall had designed the stage sets for Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Malroux loved it. While looking up at the ceiling he asked Chagall to design a new one.
For over a year at the age of 77 Chagall sketched out more than 50 designs using every medium he had. To take on the large format panels he used the Manufacture des Gobelins and his studio in the south of France. Chagall didn’t want to be paid, only his production costs were covered by the State, and finished it in just eight months.
“I thought of the entire Opera. I deeply felt the genius of Garnier’s architecture and of Carpeaux’s brilliant sculpture. I wanted the ceiling to be like a mirror, to reflect in a bouquet the dreams the creations of the actors and musicians”
His final design of 12 panels, like a large flower because “France is a rose” comprises scenes from 14 major composers. Mozart’s Magic Flute, Berlioz’s Romeo & Juliet, Bizet’s Carmen and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé are just a few.
Moussorgski, “Boris Godounov”. In blue includes the Tsar sitting on his throne wearing the insignia of power; above him a winged, monster-headed fame and, in green, the city of Moscow; on the right, on the other side of Walter and Bourgeois’ “Hebe”, at the center of the scene
Mozart, “The Magic Flute”. In light blue, a giant angel fills the blue sky while a bird or rooster, plays the flute. Chagall, who in 1965-1966 designed the sets and costumes for the 1967 Metropolitan Opera production of The Magic Flute.
Wagner, “Tristan and Isolde”. in green. Leaning into Walter and Bourgeois “Daphne”, the couple nestles below the Arc de Triomphe, lit up with the red of passion, and Place de la Concorde, two of Chagall’s favorite subjects, along with other Parisian monuments (“My art needs Paris as a tree needs water,” he wrote).
Berlioz, “Roméo et Juliette” in green. The embracing lovers are seen with a horse’s head much like Chagall’s 1911 painting “The Holy Coachman”
Rameau, work not specified in white. On the illuminated façade of the Palais Garnier, which is also red with passion, Carpeaux’s “The Dance”, covered in gold.
Debussy, “Pelléas et Mélisande” in blue. Lying alongside the head of “Clytia'' sculpted by Walter and Bourgeois, Pelléas watches Mélisande from the window in a playful reversal of roles.
Ravel, “Daphnis et Chloé” in red. Along with the (blue) sheep and the temple of the first act, the extraordinary figure of the Siamese couple, which Chagall had already included in the curtain that he painted for the Opéra in 1858, and which can be seen as completing the amorous osmosis begun in “The Walk”, a painting from 1929 showing a couple standing/walking head-to-foot in the street. It is naturally accompanied by a Eiffel Tower, a recurrent motif in Chagall’s paintings. In 1958 Chagall designed the sets and costumes for Georges Skibine’s revisiting of the choreography of “Daphnis et Chloé”
Stravinsky, “The Firebird” in red, green, and blue. In the top left area, Chagall with his palette and the bird which, curiously, is green; on the right, an angel musician whose cello is also its body, stands near the magic tree containing the bird. Below are the domes and roofs, no doubt of the magic castle, and a bird, red this time, flying down towards a crowned couple beneath a canopy. To one side, a young married couple, a peasant carrying a big basket of fruit on his head, and an orchestra. Should the proximity of the Eiffel Tower (in the Ravel section of the ceiling) be taken as an allusion to “Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel” (1928)? To the right, above the head of Walter and Bourgeois’ “Pomona”, a violinist bends lovingly over his instrument. Chagall designed the sets and costumes for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of “The Firebird” in 1945
Tchaikovsky, “Swan Lake” in golden yellow. At the bottom, a swan-woman on a blue lake, leaning backward and holding a bunch of flowers; at the top, a surprising angel-musician, whose head and body are one and the same as its instrument.
Adam, “Giselle” in golden yellow. The peasants’ dance under the village trees at the end of the first act.
In the very center we find four more composers.
Bizet, “Carmen” in red. Carmen with the bullring, plus a bull and a guitar.
Verdi, work not specified, possibly “La Traviata” in yellow. Behind a young couple, a bearded man holds a half-unrolled scroll.
Beethoven, “Fidelio” in blue and green. Leonora’s movement towards the blue cavalier, who brandishes his sword.
Gluck, “Orpheus and Eurydice” in green. Eurydice plays the lyre (Orpheus’s instrument) and an angel proffers flowers.
It of course was met with many objections for its contemporary images against the classic Opera but like the Eiffel Tower and Pyramid people have grown to love it. As for the original one, it is still there. Chagall’s was installed seven inches below. You can see a small copy in the small museum in the Garnier, a striking difference to Chagall.
In September 1964 the Chagall ceiling of the Palais Garnier was inaugurated and since then people have been able to see this beauty while attending a ballet or even on a visit. Since the hall can be closed for rehearsal you may not see it, just ask when you arrive.
There are still those who believe it should be removed and the original ceiling uncovered.
In 2022 & 2023, Bella & Meret Meyer, granddaughters of the artist donated to the Pompidou a large set of drawings, ceramics, and paintings and came together in an exhibit this past winter.