Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) was born in Vitebsk, then part of the Russian Empire and now in Belarus. Raised in a devout Jewish family, he began his artistic training locally before moving to St Petersburg, where he studied under Léon Bakst. In 1910, Chagall relocated to Paris, immersing himself in the avant-garde circles of Montparnasse. His early works blend elements of Cubism and Symbolism with folkloric imagery, establishing a poetic and dreamlike visual language that would define his career.

Chagall’s life and art were shaped by displacement and cultural memory. After a brief return to Russia during World War I, he became involved in revolutionary artistic education but left due to ideological conflicts. Settling in Paris again in the 1920s, he expanded into printmaking and stage design. During World War II, Chagall fled Nazi-occupied France for the United States, where he lived until 1948. The death of his wife Bella in 1944 marked a deeply personal turning point, reflected in the emotional tenor of his later works.

In his later years, Chagall embraced monumental commissions, creating stained-glass windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, the UN headquarters in New York, and the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. He also painted the ceiling of the Paris Opéra. His art remained rooted in themes of love, memory, and Jewish identity, rendered in vibrant colour and lyrical composition.

Major exhibitions of Chagall’s work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Musée National Marc Chagall, Nice and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. His works are held in collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, and the Tate.