MARC CHAGALL

Blending Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism with his deep Russian-Jewish roots, Chagall created a visual language that redefined 20th-century art. He was the first living artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre.

Early Years

Chagall was born in 1887 into a Hasidic Jewish family in Liozna, near Vitebsk in present-day Belarus. His early life in a community steeped in religious tradition and folklore would deeply inform the symbolic, fantastical imagery in his art.

In 1907, he moved to Saint Petersburg to study at the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Arts, then at the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting, where he was taught by Léon Bakst. Bakst's theatrical sensibility influenced Chagall's bold colour and composition.

In 1910, Chagall moved to Paris, then the epicentre of contemporary art, and quickly absorbed the innovations of Cubism, Fauvism, and Surrealism. Despite his exposure to the avant-garde, his work remained rooted in personal memory and cultural identity.

Artworks

Marc Chagall's art is known for its lyrical fusion of folklore, religious symbolism, and vibrant colour. His imagery—lovers, animals, floating figures—favours metaphor and emotion over realism.

Early Works: Paris and Personal Symbolism

After moving to Paris in 1910, Chagall began to blend the stylistic innovations of Cubism and Fauvism with autobiographical and folkloric content drawn from his Jewish upbringing. I and the Village (1911) is a landmark painting, combining floating figures, animals, and rural architecture form a fantastical, semi-abstract composition.

Other notable works include Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers (1913), now in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, where Chagall portrays himself painting his hometown, his many fingers symbolising creative fervour and dislocation. In The Birthday (1915), held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, he captures the euphoria of love through a weightless kiss in a tilted room, merging intimacy with dreamlike space.

Revolutionary Years: Russia and the Theatre

Returning to Vitebsk during World War I, Chagall became Commissar for the Arts after the Russian Revolution of 1917. He helped establish the Vitebsk Arts College, though ideological differences with fellow avant-garde artists like Kazimir Malevich led to his departure. During this period, Chagall's art reflected both his political idealism and growing disenchantment.

His engagement with theatre led to some of his most innovative work, such as the stage and costume designs for the Moscow State Jewish Theatre in the early 1920s. His mural series for the theatre—including Introduction to the Jewish Theatre (1920)—demonstrates his ability to integrate narrative, movement, and dramatic visual rhythm into architectural space.

Paintings like White Crucifixion (1938), created in response to the rise of fascism in Europe, mark a deepening of Chagall's use of Christian iconography to express Jewish suffering, blending religious and political commentary in haunting form.

Later Period: Monumental and Spiritual Works

Following his emigration to the United States in 1941 and his return to France after World War II, Chagall's later years were marked by a shift towards monumental scale and spiritual depth, expanding his practice into stained glass and large-scale public commissions.

Among his most significant late works are the 12 stained glass windows for the Hadassah Medical Center Synagogue in Jerusalem (1962), representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the ceiling of the Opéra Garnier in Paris (1964), celebrating composers in vivid, floating forms. He also produced stained glass for cathedrals in Metz and Reims, and the Peace Window (1964) for the United Nations.

Public Commissions

• Stained glass for the Art Institute of Chicago (1977)
• Stained glass windows, Metz Cathedral, France (1959—1968)
• Ceiling of the Opéra Garnier, Paris (1964)
• Peace Window, United Nations Headquarters, New York (1964)
• Stained glass windows, Hadassah Medical Center Synagogue, Jerusalem (1962)

Awards and Accolades

• Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France (1977)
• Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France (1963)
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters

Exhibitions

Marc Chagall has been the subject of both solo exhibition and group exhibitions at important institutions.

Solo Exhibitions

• Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2017)
• Chagall: Love and Life, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2014)
• Chagall: Between War and Peace, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris (2013)
• Chagall: Modern Master, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2013)
• Chagall, Royal Academy of Arts, London (1985)
• Marc Chagall, Grand Palais, Paris (1969—1970)
• Chagall Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1946)

Group Exhibitions

• Marc Chagall, Modern Master, The Albertina, Vienna (2016)
• Russian Avant-Garde and Marc Chagall, Guggenheim Museum, New York (1992)
• Chagall and the Jewish Theatre, Centre Pompidou, Paris (1981)
• Homage to Marc Chagall, The Jewish Museum, New York (1973)
• Art in Revolution: Soviet Art and Design since 1917, Hayward Gallery, London (1971)
• The Art of Assemblage, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1961)

Further Reading

Chagall's work has been widely covered in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Financial Times.

Ocula | 2025