The goat was a common sight in towns like Vitebsk in Belarus, where Chagall grew up. Its richly painted, tactile surface reveals the artist’s familiarity with these animals, while its large scale and centrality suggest the view of a small child. Chagall painted this canvas shortly after leaving the Soviet Union in 1922. He wrote: “In my pictures there is not one centimetre free from nostalgia for my native land.”