Meditation and Atonement in the Art of Marc Chagall - Essay Example

Research Paper This research study is based upon the topic “The complex relationship between God and man as portrayed in Chagall’s Bible images”. It will focus mainly upon three books of the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Solomon. 2. The Old Testament stories reveal how God calls upon man several tries and reaches out to try and establish a relationship with him. Men like David and Jacob are called upon by God to do great things, yet the actions in their lives also reveal their own inner human weaknesses that make them fall short of the divine standards set by God.

For example, Jacob, the man chosen by God to be the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel, is also a weak, flawed human being who stole his brother Esau’s birthright and his blessing from Isaac. David was a great king who was a recipient of God’s blessings, yet he lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of one of his noble soldiers, sending the man to his death to possess Bathsheba. Chagall’s paintings are essentially reflections on such human themes inherent in the Old Testament, the moments of human triumph and sorrow as reflected in this book.

His paintings are significant in their focus upon human interaction with God, and man’s constant struggle to attain to the greatness that God tries to provide him. The significance of this study is its presentation of an age old conflict between man’s weakness and his quest to attain God.3. This theme of the constant struggle of man to overcome his own weaknesses and strive to attain the greatness that God can provide, is a recurrent theme in man’s life even in the present day. God constantly reaches out to man and his chosen agents of greatness are not without flaws themselves. 4. One of Chagall’s Bible etchings is titled “David and Absalom”, is drawn from the Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 14:33).

This etching represents David receiving his son Absalom back from his exile in Gerar for the murder of his half brother Amnon. This etching demonstrates David’s deep love for his son: “and the king kissed Absalom” - yet this son later tries to turn Israel against his father. David’s weakness and sin in killing Uriah and taking his wife Bathsheba as his own produces ramifications in David’s life, which reflect how the greatness that God tries to instill in David is hindered by the man’s weakness in lusting after Bathsheba.

Yet, despite this son, God blesses David and Bathsheba’s son Solomon and makes him the wisest king of all. 5. This complex ongoing relationship between man and God, with God constantly reaching out to pull man to greater heights while man is held back by his own weakness for which he must pay the price is the theme reflected in the story of David, as well as other characters in the Old Testament. This human interaction is also the focus of Chagall’s paintings, for example the painting of David and Absalom reflects the depth of David’s love for his eldest son. 6. This research study would call for more research into the Old Testament characters in order to understand and analyze the underlying theme of human weakness vis a vis God’s call to greatness.

A deeper understanding of Chagall’s work on the Bible would also be necessary, with distinctions to be drawn between his color lithographs such as “The Mystical crucifixion” and his etchings of the Bible.