For Western Europeans who want to travel to the lesser known countries of the world, Brussels is an important location: this is where many countries have their only, or one of their few, embassy and consulate in Europe, so this is where you have to travel to first, to obtain your visas. Well, you could deal with this by post, of course, but Brussels is an attractive enough place to visit, several times. And in April 2015, just before our Central Asia trip, it was even more attractive, because of the unique Chagall exhibition in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts there.
The exhibition, a retrospective of his works, from 1908 to 1985, brings together some 200 works, many from private collections otherwise seldom shown. I wouldn’t say everything is fabulous, but much of it is, depicting many of the familiar Jewish themes of Chagall, and his unique colour combinations. The cats, the goats, the violins, the long drawn-out persons, they are all there, in water colours, gouache, and oil on canvas, from small size drawings to very large paintings. You don’t see this very often! (and you won’t anymore in Brussels, because the exhibition was from Feb – June 2015 only).
Below a very small selection of some of my personal favourites, but best is to try to get a copy of the catalogue (French or Dutch only). Or, for as long as it remains, check the website http://www.expo-chagall.be/en/exhibition, for some much better quality pictures.
