La Baie Des Anges (The Bay of Angels) (Mourlot 350)

Notes

Printed by Mourlot.

La Baie des Anges (The Bay of Angels), created in 1961–1962 at the famed Mourlot studio in Paris, belongs to a series of lithographs commissioned by the French Tourist Office to promote the Côte d’Azur, and especially the city of Nice. Chagall, who had a strong personal connection to the South of France, rendered the local landscape with his signature lyricism. The composition features a red-haired mermaid cradling a bouquet of flowers, floating above a stylised coastline with a prominent fish below her. The imagery is whimsical yet symbolic, evoking themes of vitality, mythology, and natural abundance.

This lithograph demonstrates Chagall’s ability to blend public commissions with deeply personal iconography. While designed as a promotional piece to celebrate the Riviera’s charm, La Baie des Anges transcends its function through its dreamlike aesthetic and expressive colour. Produced in a limited edition and hand-signed by the artist, the work also highlights Chagall’s technical command of lithography and his enduring ability to infuse familiar subjects with a sense of wonder. It stands as both a visual tribute to a beloved region and a testament to the artist’s unique contribution to modern art.

^1. Jacob Baal-Teshuva (ed) (1995) Chagall: A Retrospective, New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates.

Literature

Fernand Mourlot (1960) The Lithographs of Marc Chagall , Monte Carlo and New York: André Sauret / George Braziller, cat. no. 350.