Meal at Manilov's House (Repas chez Manilov), plate X (supplementary suite) from Les Âmes mortes

Meal at Manilov's House (Repas chez Manilov), plate X (supplementary suite) from Les Âmes mortes, is a profound etching and drypoint with roulette created by Marc Chagall in 1923. This work functions as a key component of the artist’s seminal project illustrating Nikolai Gogol’s satirical epic, Dead Souls. The French art dealer Ambroise Vollard commissioned the extensive series of illustrations, beginning their creation in 1923. Although the original plates were finished swiftly, the final publication of the illustrated book extended across the 1923-48 period, interrupted severely by the Second World War and Vollard’s premature death.

Chagall's interpretation of the scene captures the absurd nature of the character Manilov, the overly sentimental landowner who lives in a state of impractical idealism. Using the highly detailed and textural qualities afforded by etching and drypoint with roulette, Chagall renders the domestic interior with characteristic distortion and dynamic line work. This transforms Gogol’s biting narrative into a dreamlike, yet psychologically sharp, commentary on the lack of substance found in the Russian gentry. Though based on Russian literature, this French cultural production firmly belongs to the Modernist tradition, exhibiting the fluid, emotionally charged aesthetic that defined Chagall’s graphic arts during the 1920s.

The complexity of the publication history means that this specific plate, which belongs to the supplementary suite of illustrations, is a highly valued historical document. Chagall’s rigorous engagement with graphic mediums resulted in some of the most enduring fine art prints of the 20th century, securing his place not only as a painter but as a master printmaker. This impression of Meal at Manilov's House (Repas chez Manilov), classified as an Illustrated Book, is held within the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), ensuring the preservation and study of this important example of early modernist illustration.