The Sacrifice of Isaac (Chagall)

Abraham raises his knife over his bound son Isaac as an angel swoops down to stay his hand, the figures glowing in deep reds and blues against a dreamlike ground scattered with further scenes. Marc Chagall painted the Sacrifice of Isaac as part of his Biblical Message, the great cycle of his later years, suffusing the Old Testament drama with his luminous color and Jewish spirituality. Now in the museum dedicated to that cycle in Nice, it shows his lifelong devotion to scripture - the terrible test of faith rendered with tenderness, mysticism, and his unmistakable floating, radiant style.