Pliouchkine Offers a Drink (Pliouchkine offre à boire), plate XLIV (supplementary suite) from Les Âmes mortes

Pliouchkine Offers a Drink (Pliouchkine offre à boire), plate XLIV (supplementary suite) from Les Âmes mortes, created by Marc Chagall in 1923, is a seminal example of the artist's engagement with the illustrated book tradition. This specific plate is part of a series of illustrations commissioned by the dealer Ambroise Vollard to accompany Nikolai Gogol’s biting 19th-century satirical novel, Dead Souls. Utilizing the precise techniques of etching and drypoint, Chagall interprets the text through his signature, often unsettling Expressionist style, transforming Gogol’s dark humor and bizarre characterizations into stark visual forms. The deep, linear quality achieved through the etching process emphasizes the psychological intensity required to depict such a challenging narrative.

The work focuses on the figure of Pliouchkine, one of Gogol’s most disturbing characters-a miserly, forgotten landowner consumed by decay and avarice. Although rooted in Russian literature, the illustrations were executed while Chagall was active in the French artistic community. This endeavor contributes significantly to the modernist French illustrated book movement of the 1923-48 period, blending the artist’s Eastern European roots with the aesthetic innovations of Parisian modernism. This print depicts a moment of strange, unsettling hospitality, capturing the character’s desperate clinging to his accumulating junk and his decaying world.

This exceptional example of graphic work showcases Chagall’s versatility beyond his more famous canvases. His deliberate choice of etching and drypoint provided the high contrast and detailed precision necessary to mirror the narrative's grim tone. Classified specifically as an Illustrated Book plate, this important work resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), affirming its significance as a defining achievement in early 20th-century French printmaking and in the history of graphic interpretation of classic literature.