Mark Shagal: how color became the voice of his soulMark Shagal's paintings are impossible to confuse with any others. It's not just the flying lovers or the inverted houses. What strikes you immediately upon looking at his works is color. Shagal used color not as a means of depicting reality, but as an independent language. His palette is not just colors on canvas; it's his emotions, his memories, his prayers, his love. To understand Shagal, one must understand his color.Shagal's Blue: the sky that became a homeIf one had to choose one color that is associated with Shagal, it would be blue. A deep, piercing, almost cosmic blue. It permeates many of his works: from early Vitebsk landscapes to late biblical compositions. For Shagal, blue is not just the color of the sky. It's the color of infinity, the color of freedom, the color of that space where flight is possible.In his famous painting \"Over the City,\" blue dominates, enveloping the floating couple and carrying them above the rooftops of their native Vitebsk. This is not a realistic sky, but a dream sky, a sky-embrace. He said, \"When I look at the blue sky, I feel like I'm already there.\" And he brought this feeling to the canvas, making blue the color of inner freedom. This is not just the color of the background, but the state of the soul.Interestingly, Shagal's blue is never uniform. It varies from almost black, tragic blue in works dedicated to the Holocaust to a light, watercolor shade in scenes of love and tenderness. He feels blue as a living creature that can be sad, joyful, anxious, or serene.Shagal's Red: the color of life and sacrificeRed in Shagal's palette is always intense. He's not afraid of a bright, almost screaming red that can occupy entire planes in his paintings. Red for him is the color of blood and love, the color of life and the color of sacrifice. In his biblical compositions, especially in illustrations of the Old Testament, red often becomes a symbol of sacrifice and suffering, but ... Read more