On the occasion of his retrospective at the Grand Palais (1969-70), Chagall was to create the motif for a small poster. It is for this purpose that he engraved four plates, in order to allow himself a choice which would prove to be difficult. These three projects (one of them has two versions) have Paris as their theme. If Chagall ultimately chose Le Magicien de Paris I, it was because, as André Breton wrote, 'metaphor alone marks its triumphal entry into modern painting'. Chagall joins here, perhaps unconsciously, the fabliau of the juggler of Notre-Dame. This multicolored stunt performer offering humble flowers to Paris, it is he, a wandering wanderer dreaming of the world of painter-poets, donating to the adopted capital which pays homage to him his most precious possessions: his love and his works. — Charles Sorlier and Fernand Mourlot
