The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 25, 2025

Print of a red-brown creature with four feather-like protrusions from its back, looking at us. A figure lays on its back, hands in lap, another figure's face visible behind the first's. The figures are outlined with sketchy strokes and colored with ink blotches that occasionally reveal white paper, as in the creature's face and two figure's skin. The scene is set against a dark background with a white circle in the upper left corner.

Julnar the Sea-born and her Son, King Badr Basim of Persia

1948

Marc Chagall

(Russian, 1887–1985)
Russia, 20th century
color lithograph
Platemark: 37.2 x 28 cm (14 5/8 x 11 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1948.611
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Catalogue raisonné: Cramer 18; Mourlot 1.70.42
Location: Not on view

Description

The Arabian Nights, also known as The Thousand and One Nights, tells the story of a king who kills his new brides the morning after their marriage to avoid infidelity. One of his wives, the clever Scheherazade, keeps the king distracted each
night with interconnecting stories that stop at a cliffhanger, thus delaying her execution for another day. Though they were Marc Chagall’s first foray into color lithography, Four Tales won the Graphic Prize at the Venice Biennial in 1948. The fantastic elements from the stories, such as the ifrit (a type of demon), mermen, and flying horses, were particularly well suited for Chagall’s evocative imagery and expressive use of color.
  • Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
    Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).
  • {{cite web|title=Julnar the Sea-born and her Son, King Badr Basim of Persia|url=false|author=Marc Chagall|year=1948|access-date=25 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1948.611