Birthday

Birthday is a seminal oil on cardboard painting created by Marc Chagall in 1915. Executed during a critical period of transition for the French artist, the work captures a deeply personal moment with his fiancée, Bella Rosenfeld, celebrating her birthday. The choice of medium—oil applied directly onto cardboard—lends an intense immediacy to the highly saturated colors and dynamic, slightly fragmented composition.

This piece exemplifies Chagall’s unique synthesis of early modernist movements, such as Cubist geometry, with his characteristic lyrical style rooted in Russian Jewish folklore. The domestic scene features Bella standing in a small, slightly cluttered room, richly decorated in bright reds, blues, and golds. Chagall, depicted wearing only a suit and holding a small bouquet of flowers, floats ecstatically in mid-air. He bends his body almost 180 degrees to reach down and kiss Bella, who stands firmly grounded in the center of the room. This iconic motif of ecstatic levitation, frequently present in Chagall's oeuvre, suggests a spiritual and romantic transcendence that elevates the everyday experience of love.

Produced shortly after the artist's return to Vitebsk from Paris, the 1915 dating of this work places it at the peak of Chagall's pre-war imaginative explorations. The painting is recognized as one of the most intimate and celebrated expressions of the artist's enduring love for Bella, who served as his muse throughout his career. Today, the work is held within the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). As a widely studied modern masterwork, high-quality prints of Birthday are frequently reproduced, ensuring the accessibility of this pivotal moment in modern art history.