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# Chagall had no memory at all of painting this work when a photograph of it was put in front of him
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/shagal-voobshche-ne-pomnil-chto-napisal-etu-rabotu-kogda-emu-ee-snimok-prediavili/
- Published: 2025-12-10T18:28:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:44.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books, Observations, Humour

Chagall had no memory at all of painting this work when a photograph of it was put in front of him. He looked at it and thought: respectable people, they have an interest in the matter, I shan't disappoint them. He agreed, they say: it looks like me, my manner, yes, it's certainly me. Ah, yes.

It was noted afterwards that it matches the description of Chagall's grandmother in his book. "She could not cry, she only worked her lips, whispering: whether talking to herself or praying. Small and frail, she consisted entirely of a headscarf, a floor-length skirt and a wrinkled little face."

And so he failed to recognise his own grandmother. More to the point, show me a picture that does not match. You could fit even Goya's "Duchess of Alba" to that description.

I shall not ask what it finally sold for. But the grandmother is touching, headscarfed, pitiable; at once one recalls the fates of all the unfortunate old people of our country. So let it be Chagall.