The artwork titled “Moses Breaks Tablets of Law” was created by Marc Chagall in 1931 while in Paris, France. This religious painting, executed using gouache, oil, and paper, belongs to the Naïve Art (Primitivism) movement. The dimensions of the painting are 62 by 48.5 centimeters.
The composition captures the dramatic moment when Moses, with a deeply emotional expression, raises his arms above his head as he readies to smash the stone tablets inscribed with the laws. The landscape around Moses appears tumultuous, almost as though echoing his inner turmoil. Rendered in Chagall’s characteristic style, the figures and forms are imbued with an ethereal, dreamlike quality. The painter’s use of subdued colors, combined with expressive brushwork, effectively conveys a profound sense of distress and sanctity inherent in the biblical narrative.
