Marc Chagall: Life, Art, and Legacy of a 20th-Century Avant-Garde Master

Marc Chagall — an outstanding avant-garde artist of the 20th century

Marc Zakharovich Chagall entered the history of world art as one of the greatest painters and graphic artists of the twentieth century. His recognizable style, combining elements of expressionism, cubism, and fauvism with Jewish folk motifs, captivated millions of viewers around the world. The Vitebsk genius created a unique artistic universe where lovers float above cities and reality intertwines with fantasy.

Early years and the formation of the artist

Childhood in Vitebsk

The future master of avant-garde painting was born on July seventh, 1887, in the Belarusian city of Vitebsk, into a large family of the merchant Khatskel Chagall and his wife Feiga-Ita. Movsha, as the boy was called in childhood, was the eldest of nine children. The family lived modestly, but in an atmosphere of traditional Jewish values and religiosity. From the age of five, the future artist attended a cheder, where he studied the basics of religion and sacred texts. At thirteen, he entered the Vitebsk City Four-Year School. Even then, the shy, stuttering teenager showed an interest in drawing, although his parents did not take his artistic inclinations seriously.

First steps in art

At nineteen, having received his mother’s blessing, Marc began studying at the school-studio of the well-known Vitebsk painter Yehuda Pen. The talented mentor, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, discerned exceptional abilities in the young man and offered to teach him free of charge. Despite his natural gift, Chagall was not a model student — his headstrong character and conviction in his own genius interfered with his ability to accept criticism from teachers.

The St. Petersburg period

In 1907, the young artist went to St. Petersburg to continue his education. He studied at the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts under the guidance of Nicholas Roerich, then transferred to the prestigious private school-studio of Elizaveta Zvantseva. Here his mentors were the outstanding masters Leon Bakst and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, who had a significant influence on the formation of the young painter’s creative manner.

Paris years and creative flourishing

The City of Light and new horizons

In 1910, thanks to a scholarship granted by the St. Petersburg lawyer and patron Maxim Vinaver, Chagall was able to go to Paris. The capital of France became a true artistic laboratory for him. He attended classes at the free academies Grande Chaumière and La Palette, studied museum collections, and became acquainted with the latest trends in art. In Paris, the artist became close to avant-garde circles and met the poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars, who highly appreciated his work. It was during this period that the famous canvases reflecting his unique authorial style were created: composition intertwined with reality, color acquired emotional intensity, and images were born from the depths of the subconscious.

First recognition

In June 1914, the first solo exhibition of the young master took place in Berlin, bringing together almost all the works of the Paris period. The exhibition was a great success, and Chagall’s name became known to wide artistic circles of Europe.

Return to the homeland and revolutionary years

Vitebsk and marriage to the muse

In the summer of 1914, the artist returned to his native Vitebsk, where he planned to stay only briefly. However, the outbreak of the First World War changed his plans. On July twenty-fifth, 1915, he married Bella Rosenfeld — the woman who became the greatest love, muse, and inspiration of the artist’s entire life. Bella’s image is captured in thousands of the master’s canvases; her features are recognizable in almost all the female characters of his works.

Commissar for the arts

After the October Revolution, in 1918, the People’s Commissariat of Education appointed Marc Zakharovich as Commissioner for the Arts of the Vitebsk Province. In this role, he led the artistic decoration of the city for the first anniversary of the revolution and founded the People’s Art School, where such outstanding masters as Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Ivan Puni, El Lissitzky, and Kazimir Malevich taught. The Vitebsk period proved extremely fruitful — the celebrated canvases “Over the Town”, “The Walk”, “The Wedding”, and the series “Lovers” were created. However, creative disagreements with colleagues, especially with Malevich, led to the artist leaving Vitebsk in 1920 and moving to Moscow.

The Moscow period

In the capital, Chagall actively collaborated with the State Jewish Chamber Theater, creating costumes and stage designs for performances. He also taught drawing in a labor colony for orphaned children. However, the atmosphere of post-revolutionary Russia was becoming increasingly unfavorable for an avant-garde artist.

European triumph

Return to Paris

In 1923, realizing that his art was not finding understanding in Soviet Russia, Chagall decided to leave. Via Berlin, he returned to Paris, which became his second home. In 1937, the painter received French citizenship. The twenties and thirties were marked by active work in easel graphics and book illustration. The artist created outstanding series of etchings for “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol, “Fables” by Jean de La Fontaine, and illustrated the Bible. His autobiographical book “My Life”, illustrated with his own etchings, brought him worldwide fame as a writer.

Tragedy and persecution

The thirties became a time of both triumph and tragedy. On the one hand, Chagall’s works were exhibited in the world’s largest galleries, and his name resounded in artistic circles. On the other hand, in Nazi Germany his works were persecuted. In 1933, in Mannheim, the canvases of the Jewish artist were publicly burned by the Nazis.

The American period and personal tragedy

In 1941, fleeing persecution, the Chagall family moved to New York at the invitation of the Museum of Modern Art. Here the artist continued to work actively, creating paintings, stage designs, and costumes for ballet productions. Particularly significant were the sets for Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “The Firebird”, created in 1945. However, the American period was overshadowed by a terrible tragedy — on September second, 1944, Bella suddenly died. The death of his beloved wife from sepsis became an irreparable loss for the artist. For nine months, he could not touch his paints. Only thanks to the support of his daughter Ida did he return to creativity, creating in memory of his beloved the paintings “Wedding Lights” and “Near Her”.

Postwar creativity and late years

Return to France

In 1948, Chagall returned to his beloved France, settling in the south of the country. The master’s postwar work is marked by a deep turn to biblical subjects. Numerous etchings, engravings, and paintings formed the artist’s “Biblical Message” to the world.

Monumental art

From the early 1960s, the painter actively worked in the field of monumental art. He created stained-glass windows for cathedrals and synagogues in Europe, America, and Israel, made mosaics and tapestries for the building of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, and stained-glass windows for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center. An outstanding achievement was the painting of the ceiling of the Paris Grand Opera in 1964, as well as the creation of monumental panels “The Triumph of Music” and “The Sources of Music” for the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1966. The stained-glass window “The Window of Peace” adorned the reception hall of the UN General Assembly.

Recognition and honors

In 1952, the artist met Valentina Brodskaya, the owner of a London fashion salon, who became his second wife. In 1973, a museum specially created to house his “Biblical Message” opened in Nice at the initiative of the master. The French government granted this collection the status of a national museum. In 1977, Chagall was awarded France’s highest honor — the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. For the master’s ninetieth birthday, a grand retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the Louvre — an unprecedented case when the famous museum exhibited works by a living author.

Legacy and memory

Marc Chagall died on March twenty-eighth, 1985, at the age of ninety-seven in his home in the town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence in southeastern France. The cause of death was a heart attack that occurred in the elevator as the artist was rising from his studio — symbolically, in flight, as he depicted it in his paintings. The master was buried in the local cemetery of the commune.

Creative heritage

The art of Marc Chagall amazes with its multifaceted nature and richness of forms. His legacy includes thousands of paintings, graphic series, book illustrations, theatrical sets and costumes, monumental panels, stained glass, mosaics, tapestries, sculptures, and ceramics. Each field bears the imprint of an inimitable talent and original vision. Among the most famous paintings are “I and the Village”, “The Birthday”, “The Blue House”, “Golgotha”, “White Crucifixion”, “Solitude”, “War”, “Bridges over the Seine”. Each canvas is an entire universe where fantasy intertwines with reality, love floats above the earth, and colors sing.

Museums and exhibitions

The works of Marc Chagall are represented in the largest museums and private collections in the world. In Belarus, a significant collection of the master’s graphic works is kept at the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk, opened in 1992 in the house where the artist’s family lived. In the genius’s hometown, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events dedicated to his memory are regularly held. Since 1997, at the initiative of the master’s granddaughters Bella Meyer and Meret Meyer-Graber, annual exhibitions dedicated to the artist’s birthday have been held in Belarus. Over the years, exhibitions have presented various periods of his work: the Mediterranean period, Paris years, landscapes, theatrical works, and graphics.

Family and personal life

The only daughter from his marriage to Bella — Ida Chagall — became her father’s guardian angel, his biographer, exhibition organizer, and translator. It was she who helped the artist survive the death of his wife and return to creativity. Ida translated Bella’s books “First Encounter” and “Burning Lights” into French and contributed to their publication. After his separation from Virginia Haggard, who gave the artist a son, David McNeil, and his marriage to Valentina Brodskaya, the master’s family life was not easy. His second wife shielded Chagall from communication with his children and grandchildren, which darkened the last years of his life. The master’s lineage was continued by his grandchildren Pit, Meret, and Bella — the children of Ida and her husband Franz Meyer. They are actively engaged in popularizing their grandfather’s work, organizing exhibitions and cultural projects.

Interesting facts about the artist

The Vitebsk genius left many curious pages in the history of art. At birth, the infant showed no signs of life, and doctors had to make considerable efforts to make him breathe. Perhaps this miraculous rescue determined his special, almost mystical perception of life. The artist had a habit of painting naked — this peculiarity appeared during the Paris period and accompanied him throughout his creative life. He had a difficult relationship with Kazimir Malevich — the author of the “Black Square” effectively forced Chagall out of the Vitebsk Art School by luring all his students into his own workshop. The basis of the logo of the international festival “Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk” is the famous Chagall cornflower, which has become a recognizable symbol not only of the artist’s native city but of all Belarus. In 2015, the Vitebsk Chocolate Museum created the first chocolate copy of the painting “Lovers,” dedicated to the centenary of Marc and Bella’s wedding. Marc Chagall remains one of the most recognizable and beloved artists of the twentieth century, whose work continues to inspire new generations of viewers and creators around the world.