An immersive exhibition in which to lose yourself in the blue of Marc Chagall, the Belarusian-born, French-naturalised painter who enchants with his floating, dreamlike figures. At the Museo della Permanente in Milan.
The immersive exhibition Chagall. Sogno di una notte d'estate is an opportunity to discover the works and life of Marc Chagall: the Belarusian painter who spent many years in France is brought to life through this new expressive medium, which is growing ever more popular with visitors, if less so with critics. A journey through the colours and dreamlike atmospheres of an artist who portrays his home country, love and dreams. From 14 October 2017 to 4 February 2018 at the Museo della Permanente in Milan.
This is no ordinary immersive exhibition, one of the many that now crowd museums and exhibition spaces not only in Italy. It is described, rather, as an immersive show: 12 macro sequences recounting the life and art of Chagall, accompanied by a soundtrack composed especially for the occasion by Luca Longobardi. It arrives in Milan following enormous success in France, where it was produced by Culturespaces at Carrières de Lumières, in Provence, attracting more than 500,000 visitors.
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And what is very successful is not changed. For anyone who has never visited a similar exhibition, here is how it works: there are no works by the artist — the originals, at least — but they are projected onto the walls of the venue, so you can touch them, walk across them and even lie down on them. With skilled direction and editing — in this case overseen by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto and Massimiliano Siccardi — it is like being immersed, for a few minutes, in Chagall's art; like becoming part of his canvases, which have been transformed into moving images and music. For some, this is a way of better understanding an artist; for others, it is a somewhat ephemeral spectacle, but one that is undeniably effective.
Whether this represents a form of engaging with art that is accessible to everyone, or a way in which art loses its uniqueness, is difficult to say. What is certain is that the public loves this new approach. The immersive show does, in fact, allow a new audience to come closer to art, albeit in its technological and non-original reproduction. The hope is that those who are left astonished, amazed and captivated by a projected image will then feel the desire to visit an exhibition where "real" Chagalls are on display — where they can appreciate the type of brushwork, the actual colours used, the power that only a canvas can convey.
Moishe Segal, Mark Zacharovič Šagal, Marc Chagall — three names for the same person: the Russian-born painter, naturalised French, who lived for nearly a century (1887–1985) and whose canvases tell much of his childhood, his love for his first wife Bella, and his native land.
All his works seem like illustrations of dreams populated by characters and animals he genuinely encountered and knew during his early years in Russia. The figures appear to lose their outlines, to merge with the background, to become uncertain and ready to dissolve as dreams do. The colours are strong and vivid, and in themselves tell of Chagall's inner state.
In one of his best-known works, La passeggiata, many of the themes addressed by the painter are present: the joy that springs from love is evident in the faces of the two protagonists, both Marc and Bella, who laugh carefree. She takes flight from happiness, and he must hold her hand to keep her by his side — the power of love can go this far. The landscape is the Russian one of their shared childhood, yet it is rendered as if from a fairy tale.
Chagall lived through many of the changes and movements that defined the late nineteenth century and almost all of the twentieth, yet his style, while responsive to what was happening in the world, remained unique and distinctive. Between Fauvism and tachisme (tache meaning stain or mark), the artist nonetheless maintained an unmistakable hallmark, both in subject matter and in his painterly execution and choice of colour.
The exhibition is open in Milan at the Museo della Permanente, via Turati 34, every day from 09:30 to 19:30; tickets cost €13.