Gluttony II (La Gourmandise II) from The Seven Deadly Sins (Les Sept péchés capitaux)

Gluttony II (La Gourmandise II) from The Seven Deadly Sins (Les Sept péchés capitaux) by Marc Chagall is one plate within a remarkable portfolio of sixteen etching and drypoints, created in 1925 and published the following year. This French print series represents a significant moment in the graphic output of the Russian-born modernist, translating the monumental moral themes of the seven deadly sins into his distinctive, highly symbolic visual language.

As a printmaker, Chagall utilized the delicate yet unforgiving techniques of etching and drypoint, resulting in works characterized by intensely rich lines and velvety blacks. The drypoint process, involving scoring directly into the copper plate, lends the image a characteristic burr, visible in the dark, expressive shading surrounding the figures consumed by the vice of gluttony. Unlike many of his contemporary works, which burst with color, this piece relies on the stark contrast of black and white to convey psychological tension and moral gravity. The formal publication date of 1926 places this work squarely within Chagall’s highly productive post-World War I period, where he solidified his international reputation within the Parisian art scene.

The entire Seven Deadly Sins portfolio demonstrates Chagall’s ability to merge folklore, religious imagery, and modernist fragmentation, interpreting traditional moral subjects through a lens that often borders on the grotesque or the satirical. The collection, which includes additional frontispieces and title pages, confirms the sustained interest in limited edition artist prints among collectors of French avant-garde art during the mid-1920s. Today, this impression of Gluttony II resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), serving as a key example of the artist’s mastery of intaglio processes. While some masterworks of this vintage are now widely accessible as public domain material, this work remains a pivotal reference point for studying Chagall’s approach to illustration and graphic narrative.