Celebrated 20th century artist, Marc Chagall, at work.
Marc Chagall rose from humble origins to become hugely successful, and he is now widely celebrated as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Never fully aligning himself with any one artistic movement, Chagall’s poetic vision and extraordinary use of colour captured imaginations around the world, and continues to do so today.
Chagall worked across a vast range of mediums, but printmaking held a special status within this; the artist once said, “Each time I had a lithographic stone or a copper plate in my hands, I felt that I was touching a talisman to which I could entrust all my sorrows and all my joys”. Prints also dominate Chagall’s market, accounting for 87% of his work sold at auction, where on average they fetch between £1,000 and £5,000.
Below is a list of Marc Chagall’s five most expensive prints sold at auction. To find out more about how much a Marc Chagall print might be worth, or how to sell it, contact Mark Littler today.
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Daphnis And Chloe
Daphnis and Chloe is the only known work of the mysterious Greek writer, Longus, who is believed to have lived on the island of Lesbos in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. The pastoral story recounts the budding romance between the two eponymous protagonists and the hurdles they must overcome before they eventually find happiness together.
Chagall was approached by the publisher, Tériade, in the early 1950s and asked to illustrate the whimsical Greek tale. In preparation, he travelled twice to Greece and toured major sites such as Delphi and Olympia with his second wife, Vava, whom he’d married in 1952 after the sudden and tragic death of his first wife, Bella, in 1944.
The two trips allowed Chagall to absorb the magic of the Greek landscape, and he produced a prolific number of sketches and studies. Upon returning home, he spent several years working on the lithographs for Daphnis and Chloe, and the final results were eventually published in 1961 to great critical acclaim. The vibrant prints remain a beautiful and optimistic testament to the all-conquering power of love, and they account for nine of the artist’s 10 most expensive prints sold at auction. The record was set by one portfolio which was sold by Sotheby’s in June 1992 for £700,000.
Daphnis and Chloe Series sold by Sotheby’s in 1992
Four Tales From The Arabian Nights
This was Chagall’s first major lithographic series, created in 1948, by which time the artist was in his 60s. His mastery and enjoyment of the medium was quickly apparent, though, and by the end of his life, it’s thought that he’d produced more than 1,000 lithographs.
The Arabian Nights (also commonly referred to as The One Thousand and One Nights) is a remarkable collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folktales. First compiled in Arabic, over the centuries, the stories have been translated and adapted into various languages, and their rich visual imagery infused with magic and romance provided a well of inspiration for Chagall. The series remains one of the artist’s most popular, with one set of prints having been sold by iART Co. in December 2016 for £501,840.
Four Tales From The Arabian Nights sold by iArt Co in 2016
Cirque
Chagall was born into a Jewish family in 1887 in a small settlement near Vitebsk (modern-day Belarus), which was, at the time, part of the Russian Empire. The imagery and experiences of his childhood had a profound effect on his artwork all his life, and this series of 1967 prints was partly inspired by the travelling circuses he had witnessed as a boy in his hometown.
For Chagall, “a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a world”. With a combination of exceptional technical skill and the artist’s own near-childish delight at the spectacle, Chagall successfully captured the dynamism and magic of a circus performance, and the prints are widely considered among his best work. This portfolio of 23 lithographs in colours was sold by Galerie Kornfeld Auktionen in September 2024 for £359,215.
Cirque sold by Galerie Kornfeld in 2024
L’Odyssée
Chagall lived in many places during his life and he drew inspiration from many diverse sources, including folk tales, classical texts, his Jewish heritage, the Bible, music, and his own rich and varied imagination. This set of lithographs in colours dating from 1974 was inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, one of the cornerstones of Western civilisation.
The text follows the wanderings of the Greek hero, Odysseus, as he attempts to return to his home on the island of Ithaca after a decade of fighting the Trojan War. Chagall illustrated several key scenes from the tale to accompany a two-volume French translation of the epic poem. A separate folio of prints was also published, with this set of 43 lithographs in colours being sold by Christie’s in April 2011 for £193,888.
L’Odyssée sold by Christie’s in 2011
La Bible
It was Ambroise Vollard, the famous French art dealer, who first suggested that Chagall create a series of works based on the Bible, but the artist did not take much persuading. As he later said, “Ever since my earliest youth, I have been fascinated with the Bible. I have always believed that it is the greatest source of poetry of all time.”
In the early 1930s, Chagall undertook a trip to the Holy Land in preparation for the mammoth task ahead of him, and upon his return, he threw himself into working on the series. Progress was interrupted by Vollard’s untimely death in a car crash in July 1939, followed shortly by the outbreak of the Second World War. The Chagalls had been living in France since 1923, but the Nazi invasion and occupation put them at imminent risk, and in 1941, they escaped to America with little time to spare.
Chagall stayed in the US until 1948, and then returned to his beloved France. La Bible series (comprising 105 hand-coloured etchings) was finally completed and published in 1956 to great critical acclaim. It is still considered to be one of Chagall’s masterpieces, and one complete portfolio was sold by Christie’s in May 2002 for £178,412.
La Bible sold by Christie’s in 2002
