In 2019 I illustrated this Wonderfull book called "Chagall - The Invention of the Artist", written by Leticia Binenbojm and published by Editora Quase Oito. The book arouses curiosity about Marc Chagall's life, while discussing important themes for youth, such as reflecting on identity, searching and persevering for a dream and valuing universal human rights."
When Leticia invited me to work on this book I was very intimidated to illustrate about the life of the great master Chagall. I had no idea where I would start.
Although I knew Chagall's paintings well, I had never read about his life and the subtleties behind his work. As I began the research I usually do before illustrating a book, I looked not only at the story told here, but also at several biographies of the painter. And to my surprise, my identification with him was immediate. Everything I read about him touched my soul deeply.
Some artists make us think, others provoke us. Some talk about politics, others talk about modern life events or social injustice. Chagall was a dreamy artist who made us awaken to what was most divine within us: love. He painted about the love he felt for his childhood, his hometown, his wife, his family, his life.
This naive and kind look he had on the world was very similar to the one I always carried inside me. By demystifying our heroes and bringing them closer to us, we can be truly inspired by them. After all, before being a genius, Chagall was a boy dreamer, a flesh and blood person, just like us, with his fears, anxieties, and joys.
So I left the Grand Master aside and called the Russian boy Moishe to sit next to me and let myself be guided by him. I was then able to perceive in his paintings every detail, symbols and colors that the artist used to express what he felt. Now it was time to put all this information together and signify it in images. But how to do this?
His paintings were so personal and so intimate that I thought I should tell his story through them. I also thought I should paint like him, without worrying too much about the literalness of the story, but rather about the deeper meaning the author wanted to convey. From an aesthetic point of view, I didn't worry much about perspective, color theory, proportions, I tried to paint more like him, through my emotions and intuition. This was a great challenge for me!
Each illustration in this book was inspired by at least one or two of his paintings, trying to respect their chronology. Thus, we begin to tell the story through more earthy tones and more academic compositions, then moving on to a more symbolic style until we finally reach the stained glass windows, which he produced in the last years of his career.
