20 July Solemnity

Many representations are now on display in churches and museums around the world of the Prophet Elijah. Their quality varies greatly but each has the potential to draw the viewer into prayer and reflection on the various actions the Prophet of God performed. Marc Chagall (1887-1985) is a more recent artist who attempted to bring the Old Testament stories to life as part of his 105-etching series of the Old Testament.

The prints, created between 1930 and 1956 contain a number specific to Elijah and are referred to as the “Elijah Series.”  They include Elijah's vision, his interactions with the widow of Zarephath, and his fiery ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Born Moishe Shagal in 1887, in the Pale of Settlement under Imperial Russia (today: Belarus), Chagall was a devoutly cultural and spiritual Hasidic Jew. He was not strictly observant. Yet his art mixed his ideas of Eastern European culture and Jewish folklore. Flying figures, elements of Jewish tradition, peasant life, and animals are frequent motifs in his art.

Jackie Wullschlager, who wrote a biography of Chagall, says his work on the biblical scenes portrayed a "human story, ... not with the creation of the cosmos but with the creation of man, and his figures of angels are rhymed or combined with human ones." Drawing on an example of an earlier work “Abraham and the Three Angels," she points out that the angels sit and chat over a glass of wine "as if they have just dropped by for dinner."

The Elijah etchings—such as Elijah on Mount Carmel and Elijah Touched by an Angel—are celebrated for their dreamlike, expressionistic style. Rather than focusing on historical realism, Chagall infused these Old Testament scenes with spiritual intensity and mysticism, utilizing light and shadow to distinguish the mortal from the divine. They provide us with the opportunity to enter deeply into the biblical event.

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