The whole project is believed to have been paid for by the Prince Charitable Trusts which is connected to Frederick H. Prince. He immediately passed the piece on to the city of Chicago and it remains in place there today. Chicago itself has a long running history of accepting and displaying major artworks outdoors, with an impressive selection of artists displayed around its many streets. Anish Kapoor, Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso are all featured here for example, and many are also aware of Miro's Chicago in Brunswick Plaza as well. The Four Seasons is actually over 20m in width, making it an impressive piece both in size and quality. The rise in value of art from the most famous names means that this piece must now command an extraordinary price, were it ever to come up for sale, and so its preservation is also important for that reason. To mark its initial unveiling in the 1970s, there was also a documentary produced by Chuck Olin.
Marc Chagall was an artist who loved to try out different techniques and mediums across his long and varied career. He would produce over a thousand artworks in total, including many paintings, drawings and lithographs. This mural was a rare entry into this ambitious and intricate artistic discipline and he would have to have had some advice from specialists prior to becoming involved in this project. He was not unused to installed artworks, having designed a number of stained-glass windows. He would work on a number of other mosaics, meeting the requirements of both private and public commissions to be displayed in Europe, Israel and the US. Speaking specifically about The Four Seasons, this was one of his last and many consider it amongst his best looking mosaics of all, though it is hard to fully appreciate the piece without seeing it in person.
Technically, this mosaic is an extraordinary achievement. There are over 250 colours and many thousands of individual squares which together make up this collossal piece. It would have taken quite some time to install in its current location, and has given the city a particular sense of pride. The design features all manner of different design elements, including birds, fish, flowers and suns. There is also a couple featured, which is entirely typical of this artist, who would use romance within a dreamy setting many times within his work. Chagall actually put the design together in France where he worked from the comfort of his studio, in collaboration with a specialist in mosaic art. It was then transported and installed in Chicago, after more amendments within the USA.
