Painting: Midsummer Night's Dreamer

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In the azure light that angles steeply down the slopes above the French Riviera, a sparkling translucence seizes nature. Rocks seem sodden with gold, flowers bloom like dabs on a palette, even grass glistens greener. This light takes hold of a man too. For Painter Marc Chagall, it is a daily baptism in color, an immersion in what is natural, uncontrived, and miraculously innocent.

Constitutionals have been a part of Chagall's routine all his life. The country pleases him more than the city; and since 1950, he has lived in rustic...