La nuit de la Saint-Jean

The inspiration for La nuit de la Saint-Jean came from Nikolai Gogol’s Les Soirées du hameau près de Dikanka, a fantastical story set on Kupala night (known as in the west as the Summer solstice, or Feast of St. John) in a Ukrainian village. In the center of the painting, a huge bouquet of lilacs blossomed over the city, creating a surreal overlay with the real scenery of the distant Mediterranean coast—a view of the old walled hilltop town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the 14th century Tour de la Fondule rising above its ramparts. The shepherd and the floating figures of the Virgin and Child were recurring symbolic motifs in his work, conveying a universal love that transcends regions, races, and cultures. Chagall spent his life wandering, but his longing for his homeland run throughout his creations. In his later years, he fused childhood memories of Vitebsk, literary inspirations, and religious imagery into this work, as if he offered a heartfelt retrospective on his cultural roots.