Snowing
- Date
- 1939
- Material
- Gouache on cardboard
- depicts
- Vitebsk, Vitebsk region, Belarus, Europe
- Classification
- Drawings & watercolors
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 26 x 20 1/8 in. (66 x 51.1 cm)
board: 26 1/2 x 20 1/4 in. (67.3 x 51.4 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY / ADAGP, Paris
- Object Number
- 43:1942
NOTES
A violin-playing clown looms over the snow-covered streets of a small town while a winged donkey-headed creature flies overhead. In the darkened night sky, snow swirls around the figures, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. This strange and fantastical imagery is characteristic of Marc Chagall’s work, which often defied interpretation through his use of deeply personal symbols.
While Chagall loved the overall spectacle of the circus, he felt a particularly close kinship with clowns and other performers. He wrote in 1967, “I have always thought of clowns, acrobats, and actors as tragically human beings, who, for me, are like characters in certain religious paintings.” The donkey was often also a stand-in for Chagall himself, and the snowy town likely represents the artist’s birthplace of Vitebsk, Russia (present-day Belarus).
While Chagall loved the overall spectacle of the circus, he felt a particularly close kinship with clowns and other performers. He wrote in 1967, “I have always thought of clowns, acrobats, and actors as tragically human beings, who, for me, are like characters in certain religious paintings.” The donkey was often also a stand-in for Chagall himself, and the snowy town likely represents the artist’s birthplace of Vitebsk, Russia (present-day Belarus).
Provenance
Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Paris, France; New York, NY, USA [1]
- 1942
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from the artist [2]
1942 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York [3]
Notes:
[1] Marc Chagall created "Snowing" in 1939. Chagall and his family relocated from Paris to New York from 1941-1948 [Compton, Susan, “Chagall, Marc,” Grove Art Online, accessed October 18, 2021,
[2] A stock book of purchases shows that Pierre Matisse purchased "Snowing" from Chagall on April 6, 1942 [Purchases stock book, 1932–47, Box 171.33, Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, MA 5020, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York]. Pierre Matisse’s collector card for the City Art Museum of St. Louis indicates that he sold "Snowing" to the Museum on the same day, April 6, 1942 [Collector card for the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Box 182.01 R, Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, MA 5020, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York]. This gouache appeared in a Chagall retrospective exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1941, though this does not indicate earlier ownership of the work with certainty [“Marc Chagall, retrospective exhibition of paintings and gouaches from 1910 to 1941,” Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, November 25–December 13, 1941, no. 14, as “Il Neige”]. In January 1942, "Snowing" was included in an exhibition at the City Art Museum of St. Louis. The catalog lists the lender as “Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York,” and the work was for sale [“The Thirty-Sixth Annual Exhibition: Trends in American Painting Today,” City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, January 25– February 28, 1942, no. 95, sale price written in graphite]. It is likely that Pierre Matisse purchased "Snowing" from Chagall earlier than the date recorded in his stock book of purchases, but no earlier than 1941.
[3] Invoice from the Pierre Matisse Gallery dated April 6, 1942 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, April 2, 1942.
- 1942
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, NY, USA, purchased from the artist [2]
1942 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York [3]
Notes:
[1] Marc Chagall created "Snowing" in 1939. Chagall and his family relocated from Paris to New York from 1941-1948 [Compton, Susan, “Chagall, Marc,” Grove Art Online, accessed October 18, 2021,
[2] A stock book of purchases shows that Pierre Matisse purchased "Snowing" from Chagall on April 6, 1942 [Purchases stock book, 1932–47, Box 171.33, Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, MA 5020, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York]. Pierre Matisse’s collector card for the City Art Museum of St. Louis indicates that he sold "Snowing" to the Museum on the same day, April 6, 1942 [Collector card for the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Box 182.01 R, Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, MA 5020, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York]. This gouache appeared in a Chagall retrospective exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1941, though this does not indicate earlier ownership of the work with certainty [“Marc Chagall, retrospective exhibition of paintings and gouaches from 1910 to 1941,” Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, November 25–December 13, 1941, no. 14, as “Il Neige”]. In January 1942, "Snowing" was included in an exhibition at the City Art Museum of St. Louis. The catalog lists the lender as “Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York,” and the work was for sale [“The Thirty-Sixth Annual Exhibition: Trends in American Painting Today,” City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, January 25– February 28, 1942, no. 95, sale price written in graphite]. It is likely that Pierre Matisse purchased "Snowing" from Chagall earlier than the date recorded in his stock book of purchases, but no earlier than 1941.
[3] Invoice from the Pierre Matisse Gallery dated April 6, 1942 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, April 2, 1942.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.
