Paris Through the Window《窗外的巴黎》

爱艺爱艺

“Paris！” Chagall wrote in his autobiography. “No word sounded sweeter to me！” By 1911， at age 24， he was there， thanks to a stipend of 40 rubles a month from a supportive member of the Duma， Russias elective assembly， who had taken a liking to the young artist.

After Marc Chagall moved to Paris from Russia in 1910， his paintings quickly came to reflect the latest avant-garde styles. In Paris Through the Window （oil on canvas， 135.8 cm × 141.4 cm， 1913）， Chagalls debt to the Orphic Cubism of his colleague Robert Delaunay is clear in the semitransparent overlapping planes of vivid color in the sky above the city. The Eiffel Tower， which appears in the cityscape， was also a frequent subject in Delaunays work. For both artists it served as a metaphor for Paris and perhaps modernity itself. Chagalls parachutist might also refer to contemporary experience， since the first successful jump occurred in 1912. Other motifs suggest the artists native Vitebsk. This painting is an enlarged version of a window view in a self-portrait painted one year earlier， in which the artist contrasted his birthplace with Paris. The Janus1 figure in Paris Through the Window has been read as the artist looking at once westward to his new home in France and eastward to Russia. Chagall， however， refused literal interpretations of his paintings， and it is perhaps best to think of them as lyrical evocations.

Years after Chagall painted The Soldier Drinks he stated that it developed from his memory of tsarist soldiers who were billeted with families during the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese war. The enlisted man in the picture， with his right thumb pointing out the window and his left index finger pointing to the cup， is similar to the two-faced man in Paris Through the Window in that both figuratively mediate between dual worlds—interior versus exterior space， past and present， the imaginary and the real. In paintings such as these it is clear that the artist preferred the life of the mind， memory， and magical symbolism over realistic representation.

Paris Through the Window is currently exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum， New York.

夏加爾曾在自传中感叹：“巴黎！天底下最美好的字眼！”1911年，24岁的夏加尔就置身此城，俄国杜马（俄文“议会”之意）的一名议员很喜欢这个年轻的画家，每月给他40卢布的津贴，他得以维生。

1910年马克·夏加尔从俄国迁居法国巴黎后，他的画作很快就反映出最新的前卫风格。在《窗外的巴黎》（布面油画，135.8厘米×141.4厘米，1913年）一画中，夏加尔借鉴了同行罗伯特·德劳内的俄耳甫斯立体主义（又译奥费主义）技法，这一点在城市上空层层叠叠、半透明的鲜艳色块中表现得十分明显。埃菲尔铁塔出现在背景市景中，那也是德劳内作品的常见主题。对这两位画家来说，铁塔象征巴黎，或许也象征现代本身。夏加尔画中的那个跳伞者可能也是对当时生活的呈现，因为人类首次成功跳伞就是在1912年。其他的图案暗示了夏加尔的故乡维捷布斯克。这幅画是一年前一幅自画像的放大版，在那幅自画像中，夏加尔将自己的出生地和巴黎进行了对比。此画中还有一个两面神，被解读为画家一面向西眺望法国的新家，一面向东眺望俄国。不过，夏加尔拒绝用文字解读自己的画作，或许最好把它们看作富有诗意的重现。

在画完《喝酒的士兵》多年后，夏加尔曾表示，他是根据对沙俄士兵的记忆描绘的，那些士兵在1904至1905年日俄战争期间被安排与家人同住。画中的那个士兵，右手拇指指向窗外，左手食指指着杯子，与《窗外的巴黎》中的双面人类似，两者都是象征性调和着双重世界——内部空间与外部空间、过去和现在、想象和现实。在诸如此类的画作中，夏加尔明显更喜欢表现精神生活、记忆和神奇的象征，而非描绘现实。

《窗外的巴黎》现藏于美国纽约的所罗门·R.古根海姆博物馆。                                       □