爱艺

Peasant Life （oil on canvas， 101 cm × 80 cm， 1925） is the cheerful picture of country life here. In the foreground a gay young countryman in the blue working jacket of the French peasantry， but with a Russian visored cap， is feeding his amiable little pony a sugar beet. Behind them is the curving panorama of landscape and sky， a great arc in which there is a variety of separate little scenes， regardless of the normal vertical position. To the left， following the extension of the diagonal of the horses neck， is a red Russian log house. Portrayed in true Chagallian fashion， it allows one to see straight inside; there， beneath a hanging lamp， is a small group of men in animated discussion. To the right， along the rounded horizon， a gentleman and his coachman drive off in an elegant chaise. A droll little peasant couple hops and dances in the open field. The whole merry scene might form a general background to the adventures of Gogols arrant swindler Chichikov1， and for all we know he might be the gentleman in the chaise. In fact， all the individual motifs of Russian folklore can be found again in the Gogol etchings.

But the light and the colorful atmosphere in which the objective details of the picture here seem to be bathed are far from Russian. It is the silken blue of the French sky that strikes the basic chord that resounds through the entire orchestration of color; it is the silvery light over the French landscape that casts its luster over the picture like an immaterial fluid. The rich variety of the colors is absorbed in this hazy gleam， and their volume of tone is reduced to a restrained harmony of richly differentiated hues. Chagall as a colorist has suddenly stepped into the tradition of great French landscape painting， which began with Edouard Manet and was introduced into twentieth-century painting by Paul Cezanne and Claude Monet. Not that Chagall would have specifically had in mind this or that great master; first the astonishing encounter with the natural loveliness of France would have affected his sensitive eyes almost unconsciously， and only later would he have perceived the logical connection with the French masters.

Peasant Life is currently located at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery， Buffalo， NY， USA.

《農夫生活》（布面油画，101厘米×80厘米，1925年）一画描绘了法国乡村生活的欢乐场景。前景中，一个快乐的年轻农夫正在给他温顺的小马喂甜菜，农夫身穿法国农民的蓝色工作服，却头戴一顶俄式大檐帽。背景是大地与天空的弧形全景——一道巨大的圆弧中包含了相互独立的不同小场景，每个场景都不在正常的垂直位。圆弧左边，沿马脖对角线延伸，是一栋红色俄式木屋。这是切切实实的夏加尔风格，观者可一眼看到屋内的情景：一盏吊灯下，一小群男子正热烈讨论着什么。圆弧右边，一位绅士和他的车夫驾一辆雅致轻便的两轮马车，沿弧形地平线行进着;一对小个子农民夫妇在开阔的田野里蹦跳起舞，动作滑稽。这整个欢乐的场面可以作为果戈理笔下的大骗子乞乞科夫行骗冒险故事的大背景，看过果戈里作品的人都知道，马车里的那个绅士或许就是乞乞科夫。其实，夏加尔在为果戈里作品创作的系列蚀刻铜版画中再现了俄罗斯民间传说描述的世间百态。

但是，此画明亮而多彩的氛围与俄罗斯社会相去甚远——画中的种种细节似乎都沉浸在这片氛围中。法国天空丝般柔顺的蓝色，就是贯穿整首色彩管弦乐的基础和弦;笼罩着法国大地的银光，像某种无形的流体，让整个画面闪闪发光。这朦胧的微光中吸收了丰富的色彩，色调被有意淡化，千差万别的各种颜色因此构成了一种素净的和谐。夏加尔擅长运用色彩，他在创作此画时突发灵感，采用了法国风景画美妙的传统画法。这一传统始于爱德华·马奈，由保罗·塞尚和克劳德·莫奈引入20世纪的画坛。并非夏加尔会特别想到某位绘画大师，而是他最初与法国自然之美的惊喜邂逅几乎不知不觉便在他敏感的眼中刻下了烙印，只是后来他才意识到自己与法国大师们顺理成章的传承关系。

《农夫生活》现藏于美国纽约州布法罗市的阿尔布赖特—诺克斯艺术馆。