Here, Chagall portrays himself as the Creator on whose outstretched arms lay the miracle of human creation. According to the painting, it is a subject that he had seriously thought about it. Viewers can see a giant winged creature or angel at the centre, and a white human's figure who's suspended above, so that he seems to hover. Chagall's work reveals a different sense of human creation than the biblical account. It is not exactly a portrait of human creation but, instead, the story of its essence. It is a story of freedom. Chagall creates a new man in the image of God, not through divine inspiration but with the help of his own creative will. This Chagallian Adam turns his back on Creation; he seems lost in thought and mysteriously fascinated by his hand.
In Chagall's painting, God is a silent figure who acts rather than speaks, an apparition whose words issue from behind closed lips. His face is white and faceless, and his body seems to hover mid-air. When compared, he looks older than Adam but not as old as the biblical description, "wrinkles upon his brow."
The painting, which Chagall made on cardboard more than two meters high, appears as a fragment; in reality, its masterful composition occupies a larger size. The artist intended that the work be exhibited in the United States, but it did not materialise for various reasons. As he wrote to his friend and publisher Eugene-Emmanuel Jannsen: "My painting 'Man' is not finished yet, but you can show parts of it in New York. It has two parts that I have exhibited separately in Moscow and Leningrad. Now they are brought together."
The portrait is a colourful painting with different things and structures. Viewers can see other animals, diverse groups of people, Jesus on the cross, the biblical tablets, the seas, angels, and. It has more than one element and shows biblical stories. According to Chagall, a new creation is born, as it were, out of chaos: birds fly above man's head, fish swim in the water below him, two flying horses try to break out of the painting, and a radiant white veil separates heaven and earth. This composition is full of energy, which draws the viewer in with its rhythmic and mythical dynamism.
