Marc Chagall

Who Was Marc Chagall?

Marc Chagall was a visionary artist whose work blended personal, dreamlike imagery with modern artistic movements such as Fauvism and Cubism. Born on July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, Belarus, Chagall showed an early passion for art. After studying painting, he moved to Paris in 1907, where he became immersed in the vibrant art scene. Living in an artist colony on the outskirts of the city, Chagall developed his unique style, combining Russian folklore, Jewish culture, and the avant-garde influences of the time. One of his most famous works, I and the Village (1911), epitomized this blend and earned him recognition in the Salon des Indépendants exhibitions.

World War I trapped Chagall in Russia during a visit to his hometown in 1914, and after the war, he returned to Paris in 1923. However, the rise of Nazi persecution forced him to flee to the United States during World War II. In the U.S., Chagall expanded his artistic repertoire, becoming involved in set and costume design. After the war, he returned to France in 1948, where he continued to experiment with various art forms and produced many large-scale works commissioned around the world.

Early Life

Born into a Hassidic Jewish community, Chagall’s upbringing in Vitebsk profoundly influenced his later work. His father worked as a fishmonger, while his mother managed a small shop. Chagall received his early education in a Jewish elementary school, where he studied Hebrew and the Bible, and later attended a Russian public school. He began to develop his interest in drawing during this period, absorbing the rich imagery of his surroundings.

At 19, Chagall enrolled in a private Jewish art school, studying under portrait artist Yehuda Pen. However, his thirst for artistic growth led him to St. Petersburg in 1907, where he attended the Imperial Society for the Protection of Fine Arts and later studied with Léon Bakst at the Svanseva School. Bakst, a renowned set designer for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, had a lasting impact on Chagall’s later ventures into set and costume design.

Even during his formal education, Chagall was developing his own distinct style, moving away from the realist tradition dominant in Russia at the time. Instead, he embraced a more imaginative, fantastical approach that reflected his personal experiences, cultural background, and emotional connections. His early works, such as Window Vitebsk (1908) and My Fiancée with Black Gloves (1909), showcase this distinctive approach, incorporating vivid, dreamlike qualities and featuring his fiancée Bella Rosenfeld, who became a central figure in his life and art.

The Beehive

In 1911, thanks to an allowance from Russian parliament member and art patron Maxim Binaver, Marc Chagall moved to Paris, despite his ongoing romance with Bella. After briefly settling in the Montparnasse neighborhood, Chagall relocated to La Ruche (“The Beehive”), an artist colony where he worked alongside notable figures such as Amedeo Modigliani, Fernand Léger, and avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Encouraged by these influences, and inspired by the popular movements of Fauvism and Cubism, Chagall began to lighten his palette and push his style further away from realism. Among his early Parisian works, I and the Village (1911) and Homage to Apollinaire (1912) stand out, marking a period often regarded as his most successful and representative.

Although Chagall’s work remained distinct from the Cubist style dominating the era, he exhibited several paintings at the annual Salon des Indépendants between 1912 and 1914. During this time, works by artists such as Juan Gris, Marcel Duchamp, and Robert Delaunay were making waves in Paris. Chagall’s popularity began to spread beyond La Ruche, and in May 1914, he traveled to Berlin to organize his first solo exhibition at Der Sturm Gallery, which was highly acclaimed upon its opening in June. Chagall then returned to Vitebsk, unaware of the events that would soon shape his future.

War, Peace, and Revolution

The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 disrupted Chagall’s plans to return to Paris, but the conflict did not dampen his creativity. Instead, he found renewed inspiration in the familiar childhood scenes of Vitebsk, which had always been central to his work, as seen in paintings such as Jew in Green (1914) and Over Vitebsk (1914). His wartime work also depicted the war’s impact, as illustrated by pieces like Wounded Soldier (1914) and Marching (1915). Despite the hardships, this period also brought joy—Chagall married Bella in July 1915, and the following year they welcomed their daughter, Ida. The happiness of his domestic life is evident in works such as Birthday (1915), Bella and Ida by the Window (1917), and numerous “Lovers” paintings.

To avoid military service and stay close to his family, Chagall secured a position as a clerk in the Ministry of War Economy in St. Petersburg. While there, he worked on his autobiography and became part of the local art scene, befriending notable figures such as novelist Boris Pasternak. After gaining recognition for his exhibitions, Chagall’s reputation helped him secure the role of Commissar of Fine Arts in Vitebsk after the 1917 Russian Revolution. During this time, he founded the Academy of the Arts in 1919. However, disagreements with colleagues eventually led to his disillusionment, prompting him to relinquish his position in 1920 and move his family to Moscow.

In Moscow, Chagall was commissioned to create sets and costumes for productions at the Moscow State Yiddish Theater, including a series of murals titled Introduction to the Jewish Theater. He also taught at a school for war orphans and continued exhibiting his work. However, by 1922, his art had fallen out of favor in Russia, prompting Chagall to leave the country in search of new opportunities.

Flight

Following a brief stay in Berlin, where he unsuccessfully sought to recover his pre-war work from Der Sturm, Chagall moved to Paris in September 1923. Shortly after his arrival, he was commissioned by art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard to produce a series of etchings for a new edition of Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls. He later worked on illustrating Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables (1925) and began etching for an illustrated edition of the Old Testament (1930), traveling to Palestine for research.

The 1930s were a period of growing success for Chagall, who traveled extensively and published his autobiography, My Life (1931). However, the rise of Fascism and Nazism cast a dark shadow over his career. The Nazis ordered his works to be removed from German museums, with some being burned and others featured in the infamous 1937 “degenerate art” exhibition in Munich. The persecution of Jews during this time deeply affected Chagall, reflected in works like White Crucifixion (1938).

As World War II erupted, Chagall and his family fled to southern France and eventually, in 1941, to the United States with the help of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over 2,000 artists and intellectuals at risk of Nazi persecution received visas, with Chagall among them.

Haunted Harbors

Upon arriving in New York in June 1941, Chagall found himself already well-known within the art community. He quickly became involved with the exiled European artist scene and was commissioned to design sets and costumes for Léonide Massine’s ballet Aleko. However, the war and its impact on the Jewish community in Europe continued to weigh heavily on him, as seen in The Yellow Crucifixion (1943) and The Juggler (1943). His grief deepened in September 1944 when Bella, his beloved wife, passed away from a viral infection. Chagall’s profound sorrow over her death is poignantly captured in his works Around Her and The Wedding Candles (1945).

Despite his grief, Chagall continued to work. In 1945, he designed sets and costumes for Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird, which premiered in 1949. His involvement with English artist Virginia McNeil, with whom he had a son named David, began around this time. In 1946, retrospectives of Chagall’s work were held at both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Return

In 1948, after seven years of exile, Chagall returned to France with Virginia, David, and Virginia’s daughter from a previous marriage. He resumed his interrupted work on the illustrated Dead Souls, published that same year, and his edition of Fables was released in 1952. In 1956, his illustrated Bible was published.

By 1950, Chagall had settled in Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the French Riviera. Virginia left him in 1951, but soon after, Chagall met and married Valentina “Vava” Brodsky. Valentina, who became Chagall’s manager, featured in many of his later portraits.

During this period, Chagall expanded his artistic pursuits to include sculpture, ceramics, and stained glass. His stained-glass windows, including those for the synagogue at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem (1961) and the U.N. building in New York City (1964), are among his most celebrated works. He also created murals for the New York Metropolitan Opera and designed sets and costumes for its 1967 production of The Magic Flute.

Death

In 1977, Marc Chagall was awarded the Grand Medal of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest distinction. That same year, he became one of the few artists in history to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre. Chagall passed away on March 28, 1985, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence at the age of 97, leaving behind an extraordinary body of work and a lasting legacy as a pioneering modernist and iconic Jewish artist.