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4 of My Favourite Paintings About Love
Artworks that capture scenes of romance
The Birthday by Marc Chagall
Look at this painting. The kiss shared between the couple is so light and heady that they spontaneously lift off the ground. The man’s serpentine body curves through the air, bending into impossible shapes to meet with his beloved’s lips. His airborne contortions seem nothing other than natural, deliberate and desirable.
Prior to making this work, the Russian-born artist Marc Chagall had been pursuing his career in France, leaving his fiancée Bella Rosenfeld behind in their native Vitebsk (then in Russia, now in modern-day Belarus).
Yet he missed Bella deeply and was increasingly concerned that she might break off their engagement. She came from a wealthy family who made their fortune in jewels, whereas his background was working-class and poor.
In 1914, Chagall travelled from Paris to Berlin for his first solo exhibition. During this excursion, he also took the chance to return to Vitebsk — just as the Great War broke out, forcing him to remain in Russia for the next eight years.
He and Bella grabbed the opportunity to marry, leading Chagall to begin a series of euphoric double portraits that celebrated their union. On his birthday in…
