Cemetery Gates

Cemetery Gates, Marc Chagall, 1917
via Wikipaintings

This painting fascinates me. First, because I love cemeteries. Walking in them, photos or paintings of them ... I am drawn to them and, to a large degree, find them soothing. This is not really soothing, instead being energetic.

The gate is marked with Hebrew. The shape of the sky behind the tombs looks like crosses rising into the air (that is my Catholic lens, I realize), the blue is bright and full of energy and draws me up away from the somber lighting around the gates and ground. It seems full of hope ... expectancy ... and active.