What Are the Chagall Murals and Why Are They Important?

Hailed as “the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists,” the Russian-born painter Marc Chagall is perhaps most famous for his two paintings, The Sources of Music and The Triumph of Music, which hang by the Metropolitan Opera House at New York’s Lincoln Center. As their titles suggest, these paintings are colorful homages to music, with Chagall inserting instrumentalists, angelic wind players, and even easter eggs like Mozart and his characters from The Magic Flute. 

Together, these two paintings–each 30 by 36 feet–not only adorn the lobby, but, since 1966, have given the Met its iconic exterior, with Chagall’s bright–almost psychedelic–shapes and colors showing through the building’s large windows.

The exact value of these paintings has been up for debate. Some sources would estimate their combined value to be $20 million; however, Sotheby’s estimated a higher value of $55 million just this year. 

Why is this important?

In 2009, the paintings were set up as collateral for a $35 million loan from JPMorgan Chase during the Great Recession. During that year, Met Spokesperson Peter Clark stated, “The Met has had a long-term loan for a number of years which relied on cash holdings as collateral. The Chagalls are now being used as partial replacement collateral in order to free up some of the use of the cash.” 

Should financial struggles prove too much for the opera house, then they would have to default on the loan. Fortunately, the paintings stand in their iconic places to this day, despite other occasions where they have been used as collateral, the most recent being in 2021 during the pandemic. 

But the times have not eased for the Met, and finances continue to be a struggle. Just January of this year, it was announced that they would lay off employees, cut salaries, and postpone productions. Recently, there have been speculations of an outright sale. 

The situation, however, isn’t so bleak for these artworks. Although selling them has been in talks, a deal that the two paintings would continue to remain in the lobby even after purchase is likely being pursued. Nonetheless, the status of these paintings can be seen as significant indicators of the Met’s financial situation.