A hidden portrait of Bella Chagall in a Delaunay is a “major discovery in the history of art”

After four years of redevelopment work, the modern art museum of the city of Troyes is officially inaugurated this Friday, October 11, to seal its complete reopening to the public. Installed in the former episcopal palace adjoining the cathedral, this museum houses the national collections Pierre and Denise Lévyor some 2,000 works signed by great painters: Degas, Courbet, Braque, Derain… and in particular also Robert Delaunay, the founder of the Orphism artistic movement.

It was as part of the major restoration project, in 2019, that a previously unknown portrait was found hidden in his famous painting The Runners. Concealed by a reinforcing canvas affixed to the back of the painted canvas, this portrait of a woman attributed to Robert Delaunay represents Bella, the wife of his friend Marc Chagall.

Interview with the curator of the Troyes Museum of Modern Art, Juliette Faivre-Preda.

How did you make this discovery of a “double painting” by Delaunay, in your collections?

This painting by Delaunay resurfaced in a rather astonishing way during a restoration which initially appeared to be very banal. During the closure of the museum, we carried out several restorations and here it was a question of resuming an old tear which had been reworked from the front and this time we wanted to rework it from the reverse in a slightly more fundamental way. To do this, the restorer had to remove a relining canvas which covered the back of the painting The Runners. And at that moment, we really had a big surprise because when he removed the canvas, he discovered a sort of white wash behind which we could guess a portrait. It’s really whitewash from Spain. It is this white that we use, for example, to hide the windows of stores that are closed. The whitewash was removed little by little. There was a whole committee of experts to decide whether to withdraw it or not. And so we discovered a portrait that turned out to be very successful.

A portrait of a woman?

A real investigation began at that time. With the first question: is this really a portrait of Delaunay? We know that The Runners are one of Delaunay’s large paintings done in 1924, probably on the occasion of the Paris Olympic Games. But is this painting on the reverse really a painting by Delaunay? A priori, yes. We asked all the specialists. We also carried out studies at C2RMF, Center for research and restoration of French museumsto learn a little more about the materiality of the work. And the studies on the technique really turn out to go in the direction of an attribution to Delaunay.

Then, second question: who is this model represented? We first thought of Sonia Delaunay, who had this somewhat fashionable haircut at the time. And then, it was Angela Lampe, curator at the Center Pompidou, who made a major discovery since she compared this painting to another well-known painting, which represents Bella Chagall by Chagall. Bella is truly the muse, the great love of Chagall that he represents on numerous occasions. and we know that the Chagalls and the Delaunays are friends, that they see each other on certain weekends. Delaunay would therefore have represented Bella Chagall here.

Then the investigation continued with this question: who copied who? The two works are very, very close. Each time, the model is represented in this large coat, with these large white sleeves, the flower… the two portraits, the one made by Chagall and the one made by Delaunay, look very similar. These are almost two copies, with the very personal styles of each of these artists. And it’s quite surprising, because these two artists are not in the habit of copying other masters. They are two strong personalities. And that too is another little mystery.

With a position of the head in the portrait of Bella Chagall which could suggest that they painted together?

Indeed, the question arises: did one copy the other or did they paint together? And if we look closely at these two portraits, there is a slight shift in the pose, in the position of the head, which may suggest two easels side by side in the studio, facing the model.

What does this say in the history of art? A proximity between the painters and their model?

Of course, it really goes into this idea of ​​proximity between artists, artists who shared a studio, who left together. During this investigation, I carried out several searches and I came across fairly well-known photographs which show Bella Chagall in the studio that Marc Chagall occupied from 1924, avenue d’Orléans, studio lent by the painter Eugène Zak . And in these photos, we can see an oriental hanging in the background and we really have the impression of finding this scroll pattern at the back of our painting. Everything therefore suggests that this portrait could have been produced in this Parisian workshop, from 1924.

Is this unpublished painting a major discovery?

This is a major discovery for the museum. We are really delighted. We are reopening our doors with one more Delaunay. This is huge news for us! And then, it is of course a major discovery beyond the museum in the world of art history. We can even speak of a rediscovery because in the catalog raisonné of the artist’s work made in 1957, there is mention of an erased portrait on the reverse. This portrait, in fact, was not erased, but simply covered up and had since been completely forgotten. Technical study of the painting showed that Bella’s portrait was painted first. Indeed, it is on the part where the canvas is an industrial preparation. The artist then turned his canvas over to paint on the reverse The Runnersjust after.

What does this mean?

Several paintings by Delaunay are painted on both sides. So this is not completely surprising. Delaunay does this several times also for reasons of cost savings. We know he painted the portrait first. This gives ideas about dating. This makes it possible to provide dating keys. The Runnersa priori, are dated 1924. But this remains a stylistic dating.

And then, what is interesting is that this work was covered up, we don’t know by whom, perhaps by Delaunay himself, perhaps not. In any case, what is certain is that he did not present it during his lifetime. It was never exposed, although he repeatedly exposed the face of Runners. And it is really to respect this wish of the artist that we made the choice, with our scenographer Philippe Maffre, of a device where the visitor arrives on The Runnersthe work that Delaunay wanted to present. He only discovers later, through a mirror, the portrait that the artist hid or at least did not present during his lifetime.

Are there any mysteries left?

There are still many mysteries. The mystery of “who painted first anyway, between Delaunay and Chagall?” The mystery of “who covered the work, and why?” So obviously, when we dig into the biographies, there can be stories of jealousy, but we still don’t have enough elements to really have an official thesis. And then the study at C2RMF revealed new mysteries. The pigments are generally the same on both sides. The drawing technique is also the same.

On the other hand, we realized that white people were different. There is a zinc white on the side of the Runners, but a titanium white on the side of Bella Chagall. It’s a new product that artists used in the 1920s. And now, what we need to know is whether Delaunay was more accustomed to using one or the other, whether it’s surprising that we find these two blanks in his work. And this obviously calls for much more research on other works by Delaunay.