I and the Village 《我與村莊》

愛藝

I and the Village （oil on canvas， 192.1 cm × 151.4 cm， 1911） is a “narrative self-portrait” featuring memories of Marc Chagalls childhood in the town of Vitebsk， in Russia. The dreamy painting is ripe with images of the Russian landscape and symbols from folk stories. The picture can be broken down into five distinct sections. The first at the top right includes a rendering of Chagalls home town， with a church， a series of houses and two people. The woman and some of the houses in the village are upside down， further emphasizing the dreamlike quality of the work. Below that we see a green-faced man who some say is Chagall himself. At the bottom of the work， we see a hand holding a flowering branch. Next to that， an object which some say is a childs bouncing ball—perhaps a plaything from Chagalls earlier days. Finally， we see the image of a milkmaid layered atop the head of a lamb—a motif common to Chagall. （Cows， bulls and lambs figure in many of Chagalls paintings as cosmic symbols.）

The important thing to note about this picture is that it is a reflection of Marc Chagalls dreams and memories. Also relevant is the fact that many of Chagalls pictures （including this one） have symbols that relate specifically to Jewish folklore.

I and the Village is one of Chagalls earliest surviving works. In it， he ignored the laws of gravity. Objects are upside down， things appear to float and perspective is disregarded entirely. Instead， Chagall chose to focus on color， form and shape. The artist also disregarded natural colors and used his imagination to fill the shapes defined by black contours， characterized by a cubist art style. The result is a very emotional work—a visual diary of Marc Chagalls life.

《我與村莊》（布面油畫，192.1厘米×151.4厘米，1911）是一幅“敘事性自畫像”，記述了馬克·夏加爾在俄國維捷布斯克鎮度過的童年時光。夢幻般的畫面充滿了俄國的風景意象和民間故事的象征符號。該畫可分割為五個不同的部分。右上角為第一部分，描繪了夏加爾的家鄉，有一座教堂、一排房屋和一男一女兩個人;那名女子頭下腳上，村里的幾間房屋也上下顛倒，進一步強化了畫作的夢幻感。下方是一個綠臉男子，有人說那是夏加爾本人。畫面底部，有一只手拿著一根開滿了花的枝條。它的旁邊是另一樣東西，有人認為是小孩玩的彈球，那也許就是夏加爾兒時的玩具。最后一部分是一只羔羊的頭，羊頭上還畫了一個擠奶女工——羔羊是夏加爾畫作常見的主題。（在夏加爾的許多畫作中，母牛、公牛和羔羊都被當作廣大宇宙的象征符號。）

此畫值得注意的是，它反映了夏加爾的夢想和記憶。與此關聯的還有一點，即夏加爾多幅畫作（包括此幅）都含有與猶太民間傳說尤為相關的象征符號。

《我與村莊》是夏加爾現存最早的作品之一。創作時，他無視重力法則。描繪的對象上下顛倒，物體看似飄浮空中，透視則完全被拋棄。反之，夏加爾關注的是色彩、形式和形狀。他還放棄了天然的色彩，而是發揮自己的想象去填充黑線勾邊的各種形狀，呈現出明顯的立體主義畫派風格。整幅作品飽含情感——是夏加爾用畫筆記下的生活日記。