Where did you walk. Biography of Marc Chagall in English. New Life, or Attitude to the Work of an Artist Abroad

Mark Zakharovich Chagall (1887-1985) - painter, graphic artist, theater artist, illustrator, master of monumental and applied arts.

CREATIVITY AND BIOGRAPHY OF MARC CHAGALL

One of the leaders of the world avant-garde of the 20th century, Chagall managed to organically combine the ancient traditions of Jewish culture with cutting-edge innovation. Born in Vitebsk on June 24 (July 6), 1887. He received a traditional religious education at home (Hebrew, reading the Torah and the Talmud). In 1906 he came to St. Petersburg, where in 1906-1909 he attended a drawing school under the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, the studio of S.M. Zaydenberg and the school of E.N. Zvantseva. He lived in St. Petersburg-Petrograd, Vitebsk and Moscow, and in 1910-1914 - in Paris. All Chagall's work was originally autobiographical and lyrically confessional.

Already in his early paintings, the themes of childhood, family, and death dominate, deeply personal and at the same time “eternal” (“Saturday”, 1910, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). Over time, the theme of the artist's passionate love for his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, comes to the fore (“Over the City”, 1914–1918, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). Characteristic are the motifs of the "parochial" landscape and life, coupled with the symbols of Judaism ("The Gate of the Jewish Cemetery", 1917, private collection, Paris).

However, peering into the archaic, including the Russian icon and popular print (which had a great influence on him), Chagall adjoins futurism and foresees future avant-garde trends. Grotesquely illogical plots, sharp deformations and surreal-fabulous color contrasts of his canvases (“I and the Village”, 1911, Museum of Modern Art, New York; “Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers”, 1911–1912, City Museum, Amsterdam) have a great influence on the development of surrealism.

Saturday Jewish cemetery gate Me and the village Self-portrait with seven fingers

After the October Revolution in 1918–1919, Chagall served as the commissar of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the provincial department of public education in Vitebsk, decorating the city for revolutionary holidays. In Moscow, Chagall painted a number of large wall paintings for the Jewish Chamber Theatre, thus taking the first significant step towards monumental art. Having left for Berlin in 1922, later from 1923 he lived in France, in Paris or in the south of the country, temporarily leaving it in 1941-1947 (he spent these years in New York). He traveled to different countries of Europe and the Mediterranean, and visited Israel more than once. Having mastered various engraving techniques, in 1923-1930 Chagall created sharply expressive illustrations for "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and "Fables" by J. de Lafontaine, commissioned by Ambroise Vollard, Chagall.

As he reaches the peak of fame, his manner - generally surreal - expressionistic - becomes easier and more relaxed. Not only the main characters, but also all the elements of the image soar, forming constellations of colored visions. Through the recurring themes of Vitebsk childhood, love, circus performances, gloomy echoes of past and future world catastrophes float (“Time has no shores”, 1930–1939, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Since 1955, work began on the "Chagall Bible" - this is the name given to a huge cycle of paintings that reveal the world of the progenitors of the Jewish people in a surprisingly emotional and vivid, naive-wise form.

In line with this cycle, the master also created a large number of monumental sketches, compositions based on which adorned sacred buildings of different religions - both Judaism and Christianity in its Catholic and Protestant varieties: ceramic panels and stained-glass windows of the chapel in Assy (Savoy) and the cathedral in Metz, 1957 –1958; stained-glass windows: synagogues of the medical faculty of the Hebrew University near Jerusalem, 1961; cathedral (Fraumünster church) in Zurich, 1969–1970; Cathedral in Reims, 1974; St. Stephan Church in Mainz, 1976–1981; and etc.). These works by Marc Chagall radically updated the language of modern monumental art, enriching it with powerful colorful lyricism.

In 1973, Chagall visited Moscow and St. Petersburg in connection with an exhibition of his work at the Tretyakov Gallery.

When I open my eyes in the morning, I dream of seeing a more perfect world in which friendliness and love rule. This alone is enough to make my day beautiful and worthy of being.

• Marc Chagall is the only artist in the world whose stained glass windows adorn the cathedrals of almost all denominations. Among the fifteen churches there are ancient synagogues, Lutheran churches, Catholic churches and other public buildings located in America, Europe and Israel.
• Specially commissioned by Charles de Gaulle, the current French president, the artist designed the ceiling of the Grand Opera in Paris. Two years later, he painted two panels for the New York Metropolitan Opera.
• In July 1973, a museum called the "Bible Message" opened in Nice, France, which was decorated with the artist's works and housed in the building that he himself conceived. Some time later, the museum was awarded national status by the government.
• Chagall is considered one of the instigators of the picturesque sexual revolution. The fact is that already in 1909 a naked woman was depicted on his canvas. The model was Thea Brahman, who agreed to such a role only out of pity for the artist, who financially could not afford professional models. Later, these sessions led to a romantic relationship, and Thea became the painter's first love.
• Being in a bad mood, the artist painted only biblical scenes or flowers. At the same time, the latter sold much better, which greatly disappointed Chagall.
• The painter considered only love to be the most important thing in the universe and life.
• Marc Chagall died on March 28, 1985 while climbing to the second floor in an elevator, therefore, his death occurred in flight, albeit not very high.

Bibliography and filmography of the artist

• Apchinskaya N. Marc Chagall. Portrait of the artist. - M.: 1995.
• McNeil, David. In the footsteps of an angel: memoirs of the son of Marc Chagall. M
• Maltsev, Vladimir Marc Chagall - theater artist: Vitebsk-Moscow: 1918-1922 // Chagall collection. Issue. 2. Materials of VI-IX Chagall readings in Vitebsk (1996-1999). Vitebsk, 2004, pp. 37-45.
• Marc Chagall Museum in Nice - Le Musee National Message Biblique Marc Chagall ("The Bible Message of Marc Chagall")
• Haggard V. My life with Chagall. Seven years of abundance. M., Text, 2007.
• Khmelnitskaya, Lyudmila. Museum of Marc Chagall in Vitebsk.
• Khmelnitskaya, Lyudmila. Marc Chagall in the artistic culture of Belarus in the 1920s - 1990s.
• Chagall, Bella. Burning lights. M., Text, 2001; 2006.
• Shatskikh A.S. Gogol's world through the eyes of Marc Chagall. - Vitebsk: Marc Chagall Museum, 1999. - 27 p.
• Shatskikh A.S."Blessed be my Vitebsk": Jerusalem as a prototype of Chagall's City // Poetry and Painting: Collection of Works of MemoryN. I. Khardzhieva/ Ed.M. B. MeilahaandD. V. Sarabyanova. - M.: Languages ​​of Russian culture, 2000. - S. 260-268. - ISBN 5-7859-0074-2.
• Shishanov V.A. “If you really want to be a minister…” // Bulletin of the Marc Chagall Museum. 2003. No. 2(10). pp. 9-11.
• Kruglov Vladimir, Petrova Evgeniya. Marc Chagall. - St. Petersburg: State Russian Museum, Palace Editions, 2005. - P. 168. - ISBN 5-93332-175-3.
• Shishanov V.“These young people were ardent socialists…”: Participants of the revolutionary movement surrounded by Marc Chagall and Bella Rosenfeld // Bulletin of the Marc Chagall Museum. 2005. No. 13. S. 64-74.
• Shishanov V. On the Lost Portrait of Marc Chagall by Yuri Pan // Bulletin of the Marc Chagall Museum. 2006. No. 14. P. 110-111.
• Shishanov, Valery. Marc Chagall: Studies for the biography of the artist on archival affairs
• Shishanov V. A. Vitebsk Museum of Modern Art: history of creation and collection. 1918-1941. Minsk: Madison, 2007. - 144 p.

Who was supposed to be one of the eight children born at the end of the nineteenth century in a small town near Vitebsk in the family of a poor Jew - a herring peddler? Probably a global celebrity. And so it happened. And if someone has not yet guessed who they are talking about, you should know that this is the famous artist Marc Chagall. A brief biography of his childhood, of course, does not contain any hints of a stellar future. And yet, the name of this person today is quite popular.

The beginning of the creative path

As a child, Chagall began studying at a Jewish elementary school, and then went to the state, where the lessons were already held in Russian. After mastering the basics of education at school, until starting from 1907 to 1910, he managed to learn a little painting in St. Petersburg. A notable work of the early period of his work is the painting "Death", which depicts a violinist (a fairly often repeated image for the artist we are considering) against the backdrop of nightmarish events on stage.

Then the young Marc Chagall moved to Paris, to a studio on the outskirts of the city of Bohemia, in a well-known area called La Rouche. There he met several famous writers and artists, including Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay and others. Experimentation was welcomed in this company, and Chagall quickly began to develop poetic and innovative tendencies, influenced by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

Return to native places

And since that time, his creative biography has just begun. Marc Chagall fell in love with Paris forever. The artist called it the second Vitebsk. The French capital was the center of world painting, and there Mark suddenly gained fame for himself. It was Paris that Mark Zakharovich considered the source of his inspiration. And here he was practically declared one of the founders of such a genre of painting as surrealism. But he's leaving.

After the Berlin exhibition, Mark Zakharovich returns to Vitebsk, where, however, he does not intend to stay for too long, only to have time to marry his bride Bella. However, it got stuck due to the outbreak of the First World War, as the Russian borders were closed for an indefinite period.

But, instead of falling into despair, Marc Chagall continues to create. Marrying Bella in 1915, he creates such masterpieces as "Birthday" and a playful acrobatic canvas called "Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine". All works of this period act as witnesses of the joyful state of the artist during the first years of his married life.

Revolutionary period in the life of the artist

The Jews had every reason to love the revolution. After all, she destroyed the Pale of Settlement and made it possible for many representatives of this nationality to become commissars. And how did Mark Zakharovich feel about the revolution? And what information about this period does his biography contain? Marc Chagall also tried to love the revolution. In his native Vitebsk, in 1918, he even became a commissar for culture, and later founded and directed an art school, which is becoming very popular.

Mark Zakharovich, together with his students, decorated the city for the celebration of the first anniversary of October. Officials were not as pleased with the design of the celebration as the artist himself. And when the representatives of the new government began to ask the master why his cows are green and his horses fly in the sky, and most importantly, what Shagalov's characters have in common with the great revolutionary principles and Karl Marx, the enthusiasm for the revolution quickly disappeared. Moreover, the Bolsheviks established a new Pale of Settlement, and not only for Jews.

Moving to the capital and the decision to leave Russia

What did Chagall Mark Zakharovich begin to do? His biography is still connected with Russia, and now he is moving to Moscow, where he begins to teach orphans of the revolution in a children's colony how to draw. These were children who had repeatedly been subjected to terrible treatment by criminals, many remembered the gleam of the steel blade of the knife with which their parents were stabbed, deafened by the whistle of bullets and the sound of broken glass.

Once, passing by the Kremlin, Mark Zakharovich saw Trotsky getting out of the car. With heavy steps he made his way to his quarters. Then the artist realized how tired he was, and acutely felt that more than anything in the world he wanted to paint his paintings. Neither the tsarist nor the Soviet authorities, in his opinion, needed him.

Marc Chagall decides to take his wife and daughter, who had already appeared by that time, and leave Russia. He becomes the first commissioner who leaves the new state in order not only to save the lives of loved ones, but also his soul from lack of freedom.

New Life, or Attitude to the Work of an Artist Abroad

Marc Chagall, whose biography and work is now no longer connected with his homeland, went to France - towards his immortality. In subsequent years, the phrases "genius of the century", "patriarch of world painting" were added to his name. The French declared Mark Zakharovich the head of the Paris School of Art. And at the same time, Chagall's paintings were burned in a huge fire in Germany. Why, then, did some consider his painting the pinnacle of modern art, while for others it interfered with the realization of their "cannibalistic" ideas.

Perhaps he was struck by a sense of personal independence. He was free as God in the process of creating the universe. Wherever Chagall lived - in Vitebsk, New York or Paris - he always depicted almost the same thing. One or two human figures soaring into the air... A cow, a rooster, a horse or a donkey, several musical instruments, flowers, the roofs of houses in native Vitebsk. Almost nothing else was written by Marc Chagall. The description of the paintings shows not only recurring images, but also almost no different storylines from each other.

A waking dream, or what the paintings of Mark Zakharovich say

And yet connoisseurs and connoisseurs were amazed. Mark Zakharovich showed ordinary objects as if the viewer was seeing them for the first time. He portrayed fantastic things very naturally. For simple, inexperienced art lovers, the paintings of Mark Zakharovich are ordinary childhood dreams. They have an irresistible desire to fly. Daydreams about something inexpressibly beautiful, joyful and sad at the same time. Marc Chagall is an artist who conveyed in his works what every person feels at least once in his life. This is unity with the big Universe.

This man is famous all over the world

This rarest moment of enlightenment lasted for Mark Zakharovich for eighty years. That is how much fate let go of the great artist for creativity. He painted hundreds of paintings. His painting is in New York at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Grand Opera in Paris. His works are also dozens of stained glass windows in cathedrals in Europe and in buildings around the world, where many people live who know who Marc Chagall is. His biography and paintings are popular today not only in Russia. Even in the United Nations, there are elements of painting by this most talented artist.

Creative biography. Marc Chagall and world fame

When Hitler came to power, they began to express the artist's anxiety about the future fate of mankind. This is "Solitude", where Jewish and Christian symbols are mixed with a Nazi mob terrorizing Jews. Mark Zakharovich is evacuated to the United States and continues his work there.

It is worth noting another period in the artist's work, which describes his biography. Marc Chagall lost his wife in 1944, and, of course, this was reflected in his works. Bella appears in such canvases of the artist as "Nocturne" and others: in several forms, with ghosts, in the form of an angel or the ghost of a bride.

Return to Paris

In 1948, Marc Zakharovich Chagall settled again in France, on the Cote d'Azur. Here he receives many orders, designs scenery and costumes for ballets. In 1960, he began to create stained glass windows for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center.

Later, he takes on the creation of large projects in the design of the cathedral in Zurich, St. Stephen's Church in Mainz in Germany and in the Church of All Saints in the United Kingdom. The greatest artist Marc Zakharovich Chagall died on March 28, 1985, leaving behind an extensive collection of works in a number of branches of art.

Marc Chagall became one of the symbols of the twentieth century, but not of its dark destructive sides, but of love, the desire for harmony, the hope of finding happiness. His immortality lies in the ability to convey the presence of the Divine spirit in every object of the surrounding world.

Chagall is one of the few artists who formed an entire era in art. It is difficult to name a person who has not even heard about this great man with an incredible imagination and a unique vision of his place in painting. Until now, Chagall is a unique phenomenon, at least no one has managed to come close to the level of which.

The future recognized leader of avant-gardism was born on the outskirts of Vitebsk, which was one of the small towns of the Russian province, in 1887. It was a time of mass persecution of foreigners and terrible Jewish pogroms, which caused mass emigration of the Jewish population to other countries, with a more loyal attitude towards representatives of the Jewish faith. But for little Movshe, all this was ahead. He received a traditional education for Jewish children, having studied the Torah, the Talmud and mastering the Hebrew language. After graduating from four classes of the school, Chagall studied the art of painting in Vitebsk at the school of Yudel Pan.

Realizing that his talent cannot be developed on the periphery, the artist decides to move to St. Petersburg - the then center of artistic thought. The father reluctantly lets him go, allocating a very meager amount and refusing to continue to financially help his son. In the city, Chagall studies at the Roerich school, and then with Bakst. At this time, Mark meets Bella Rosenfeld, who until the end of his life remains a muse and beloved woman, whose face is recognizable in literally every image created by the master.

In 1911, the artist's life begins, during which he was constantly thrown from one city and country to another. Having changed his Jewish name Movshe Khatskelevich to a more European-sounding Mark Zakharovich, he leaves on a scholarship to study at, returning home to Vitebsk in 1914 and just at the beginning of the First World War. The following year, he marries Bella, and a year later they have a daughter, Ida. She subsequently becomes a biographer and researcher of her father's work. At the end of the revolution, Chagall became the commissar for arts in the Vitebsk province and opened his own art school.

In 1920, he moved to work on the design of theatrical performances, and in 1922 he went to Lithuania for his own exhibition with his family. Then begins Chagall's journey to the West. He moved to, and then to, where he received citizenship in 1937. However, in 1941, the family had to flee from impending fascism to the United States, where Bella died in 1944. She was not the last woman in the life of the artist, but until the moment of his death she remained his love and eternal muse.

Since the 60s, Marc Chagall became interested in large forms and monumental art. His interests included paintings, including ceiling paintings, tapestries and stained-glass windows. Over the years, the master has created many significant things, including painting the ceiling of the Opera Garnier in France and panels for the Metropolitan Opera, mosaics for the National Bank in the United States.

Mark Zakharovich Chagall lived a great life and left a significant mark on the art of the avant-garde. He died at the age of 98, until the end of his life, remembering his origin and weaving motifs from the life of his native Vitebsk into his works.

Mark Zakharovich (Moses Khatskelevich) Chagall (French Marc Chagall, Yiddish מאַרק שאַגאַל‎). Born July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Vitebsk province (now Vitebsk region, Belarus) - died March 28, 1985 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, France. Russian, Belarusian and French artist of Jewish origin. In addition to graphics and painting, he was also engaged in scenography, wrote poetry in Yiddish. One of the most famous representatives of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.

Movsha Khatskelevich (later Moses Khatskelevich and Mark Zakharovich) Chagall was born on June 24 (July 6), 1887 in the Peskovatik area on the outskirts of Vitebsk, was the eldest child in the family of the clerk Khatskel Mordukhovich (Davidovich) Chagall (1863-1921) and his wife Feiga-Ita Mendelevna Chernina (1871-1915). He had one brother and five sisters.

The parents married in 1886 and were cousins ​​to each other.

The artist’s grandfather, Dovid Eselevich Shagal (dovid-Mordukh Ioselevich Sagal, 1824 -?), came from the town of Babinovichi, Mogilev province, and in 1883 he settled with his sons in the town of Dobromysl, Orsha district, Mogilev province, so that in the “Lists of real estate owners property of the city of Vitebsk" the father of the artist Khatskel Mordukhovich Chagall is recorded as a "dobromyslyansky tradesman"; the artist's mother came from Liozno.

Since 1890, the Shagal family owned a wooden house on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street in the 3rd part of Vitebsk (significantly expanded and rebuilt in 1902 with eight apartments for rent). Marc Chagall also spent a significant part of his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather Mendel Chernin and his wife Basheva (1844 -?), the artist's grandmother on his father's side), who by that time lived in the town of Liozno, 40 km from Vitebsk.

He received a traditional Jewish education at home, having studied the Hebrew language, the Torah and the Talmud.

From 1898 to 1905, Chagall studied at the 1st Vitebsk four-year school.

In 1906 he studied fine arts at the art school of the Vitebsk painter Yudel Pen, then moved to St. Petersburg.

In St. Petersburg, for two seasons, Chagall studied at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which was headed by N. K. Roerich (he was admitted to the school without an exam for the third year).

In 1909-1911 he continued his studies with L. S. Bakst at the private art school of E. N. Zvantseva. Thanks to his Vitebsk friend Viktor Mekler and Thea Brahman, the daughter of a Vitebsk doctor who also studied in St. Petersburg, Marc Chagall entered the circle of young intellectuals who were passionate about art and poetry.

Thea Brahman was an educated and modern girl, several times she posed naked for Chagall.

In the autumn of 1909, during her stay in Vitebsk, Teya introduced Marc Chagall to her friend Bertha (Bella) Rosenfeld, who at that time studied at one of the best educational institutions for girls - the Guerrier school in Moscow. This meeting was decisive in the fate of the artist. The love theme in the work of Chagall is invariably associated with the image of Bella. From the canvases of all periods of his work, including the latest (after Bella's death), her "bulging black eyes" look at us. Her features are recognizable in the faces of almost all the women depicted by him.

In 1911, Chagall went to Paris on a scholarship, where he continued to study and met avant-garde artists and poets who lived in the French capital. Here he first began to use the personal name Mark. In the summer of 1914, the artist came to Vitebsk to meet with his family and see Bella. But the war began and the return to Europe was postponed indefinitely.

On July 25, 1915, Chagall married Bella. In 1916, their daughter Ida was born, who later became a biographer and researcher of her father's work.

In September 1915, Chagall left for Petrograd, joined the Military Industrial Committee. In 1916, Chagall joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and in 1917 he returned to Vitebsk with his family. After the revolution, he was appointed authorized commissar for the arts of the Vitebsk province. On January 28, 1919, the Vitebsk Art School was opened by Chagall.

In 1920, Chagall left for Moscow, settled in a "house with lions" at the corner of Likhov Lane and Sadovaya. On the recommendation of A. M. Efros, he got a job at the Moscow Jewish Chamber Theater under the direction of Alexei Granovsky. He took part in the decoration of the theater: first he painted wall paintings for the auditoriums and the lobby, and then costumes and scenery, including "Love on Stage" with a portrait of a "ballet couple".

In 1921, the Granovsky Theater opened with the performance "Evening by Sholom Aleichem" designed by Chagall. In 1921, Marc Chagall worked as a teacher in the Jewish labor school-colony "III International" near Moscow for homeless children in Malakhovka.

In 1922, together with his family, he first went to Lithuania (his exhibition was held in Kaunas), and then to Germany. In the autumn of 1923, at the invitation of Ambroise Vollard, the Chagall family left for Paris.

In 1937, Chagall received French citizenship.

In 1941, the management of the Museum of Modern Art in New York invited Chagall to move from Nazi-controlled France to the United States, and in the summer of 1941 the Chagall family arrived in New York. After the end of the war, the Chagalls decided to return to France. However, on September 2, 1944, Bella died of sepsis at a local hospital. Nine months later, the artist painted two paintings in memory of his beloved wife: "Wedding Lights" and "Next to Her."

Relationship with Virginia McNeill-Haggard, the daughter of a former British consul in the United States, began when Chagall was 58 years old, Virginia - 30 with a little. They had a son, David (in honor of one of the Chagall brothers) McNeill. In 1947, Chagall arrived with his family in France. Three years later, Virginia, taking her son, unexpectedly ran away from him with her lover.

July 12, 1952 Chagall married "Vava" - Valentina Brodskaya, the owner of the London fashion salon and the daughter of the famous manufacturer and sugar producer Lazar Brodsky. But only Bella remained a muse all her life, until his death he refused to talk about her as if she were dead.

In 1960, Marc Chagall won the Erasmus Prize.

Since the 1960s, Chagall has mainly switched to monumental art forms - mosaics, stained-glass windows, tapestries, and also became interested in sculpture and ceramics. In the early 1960s, commissioned by the Israeli government, Chagall created mosaics and tapestries for the parliament building in Jerusalem. After this success, he received many orders for the design of Catholic, Lutheran churches and synagogues throughout Europe, America and Israel.

In 1964, Chagall painted the ceiling of the Paris Grand Opera by order of French President Charles de Gaulle, in 1966 he created two panels for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Chicago he decorated the building of the National Bank with the Four Seasons mosaic (1972).

In 1966, Chagall moved to a house built especially for him, which served at the same time as a workshop, located in the province of Nice - Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

In 1973, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, Chagall visited Leningrad and Moscow. He organized an exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist presented the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin his works.

In 1977, Marc Chagall was awarded the highest award of France - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and in 1977-1978 an exhibition of the artist's works was held in the Louvre, timed to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the artist. Against all odds, the Louvre exhibited works by a still-living author.

Chagall died on March 28, 1985 at the age of 98 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Buried at the local cemetery. Until the end of his life, "Vitebsk" motifs were traced in his work. There is a "Chagall Committee", which includes four of his heirs. There is no complete catalog of the artist's works.

The artist of Belarusian-Jewish origin became a legend during his lifetime and forever made famous his native city of Vitebsk, which, in turn, responds to him with mutual love and eternal memory. A museum complex has been created in Chagall's homeland: an art center, where the writer's graphic works are exhibited, and a house-museum, which contains copies of his archival documents and works telling about the history of Mark's entire family. And in honor of the 130th anniversary of his birth, Vitebsk hosted mass performances, exhibitions and meetings of admirers of the Belarusian artist. You can take pictures and visit the memorable places of the creator.

Life and biography

Marc Chagall (real name Movsha Khatskelevich) was born on July 6, 1887 in a poor family. He was the eldest child of all six children of Jewish parents, who were cousins ​​to each other. Relatives did not share and did not understand his craving for creativity, but no one began to interfere with the development of the child in this area.

Having received a traditional Jewish education at home, then graduating from the Vitebsk school, the young talent enters the school of the painter Yudel Pan, who, having seen the boy's talent, offers him free classes. But a few months later, Chagall realizes that this is not quite his way and leaves to continue his studies in St. Petersburg. Without exams, he is accepted immediately into the third year at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, under the guidance of Nikolai Rurich. Despite the fact that the educational institution provided absolute freedom for creativity, classes did not bring Mark satisfaction. Two years later, he entered the private school of Elizaveta Zvantseva, where the master of easel painting, Lev Bakst, became his teacher. It was during this period that the foundation was laid for the creative path of the great artist.

Chagall was very fond of his hometown and often came there to work on paintings and be filled with inspiration. It is here, in Vitebsk, that he meets the muse and love of his life - his future wife Bella Rosenfeld, with whom they later got married and became the parents of a beautiful daughter, Ida.

In 1911, Maxim Vinaver, deputy of the First State Duma, buys two paintings by Marc Chagall and gives him a unique opportunity to continue his studies in Paris, undertaking to pay a monthly allowance. Having stayed in France until the beginning of World War I, the artist returned to Vitebsk, where he founded an art school and continued to work on canvases. In 1920, Chagall left for Russia and received a position as an artistic designer at the Moscow Jewish Chamber Theater. But after 2 years he goes to Lithuania, then to Germany, and in the middle of 1923 he finally moves to Paris. In 1937 he received French citizenship.

On the threshold of World War II, the artist and his family are forced to move to the United States, fleeing Nazism. And 1944 became fatal for the artist: because of sepsis, his beloved Bella suddenly died. He long and painfully experiences this loss, and now the main person in his life is his daughter Ida.

In 1947, Chagall returned to France and 5 years later married Valentina Brodskaya. But until his death, his first wife remained the only inspiration and muse for him, which he did not even hide. Until the last day of his life, Chagall worked hard, traveled around the world with exhibitions and was awarded France's highest award - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.

On March 28, 1985, the talented artist died at the age of 98 and was buried in the southeast of France.

Creativity of Marc Chagall: works and paintings

The versatility of the nature of the Belarusian artist makes his art difficult to classify in a strict order. Once acquainted with the work of Marc Chagall, in the future it will be difficult to confuse him with someone else. The writer has an unconventional and even somewhat expressive authorial style, formed under the influence of cubism, orphism and fauvism of that time. Many canvases reflect his religious views and unique worldview.

The main motives in the work of Marc Chagall are:

• Jewish identity;

"If I were not a Jew, as I understand it, I would not be an artist, or would be a completely different artist."

• attachment to the hometown;

“For a long time already, my beloved city, I haven’t seen you, haven’t heard you, haven’t talked to your clouds and haven’t leaned on your fences.”

• love for the first wife;

“And I realized: this is my wife. Eyes shining on a pale face. Big, bulging, black! These are my eyes, my soul."

Pictures of the Belarusian genius are distributed in all museums of the world. A complete collection of the catalog of his paintings does not exist to this day, but even the earliest fruits of creativity are recognized as priceless. The most famous works of Marc Chagall:

1. "Dedication to Appolinaire" (1912).

The painting was painted in 1912 in Paris and is still considered one of the most mysterious works of the master.

1. "Bella with a white collar" (1917).

The artist dedicated countless paintings to his wife. This painting is the most famous work depicting Bella and two small figures (it is assumed that this is Mark himself with his daughter Ida).

1. "Walk" (1918) .

A romantic masterpiece, created in a state of happiness and joy after the wedding with her beloved Bella Rosenfeld.

1. "White crucifixion" (1938).

The picture tells about the grievous suffering of Christ and the Jewish people. She was subjected to the most severe criticism from the public. At the same time, this is the favorite work of Pope Francisco.

1. "The rider on the red horse" (1966).

This canvas in all colors describes one of the artist's favorite entertainments - the circus.

A talented person is talented in everything: throughout his life, Chagall was fond of poetry and even published some poems, essays and memoirs in Yiddish. His autobiography "My Life" gained worldwide fame.

Education:

• 1898 ─ 1995 ─ Vitebsk four-year school No. 1;
• 1906 ─ art school of Yudel Pan, Vitebsk;
• 1907 - 1909 ─ Drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, St. Petersburg;
• 1909 - 1911 - art school of E. N. Zvantseva, St. Petersburg;
• 1911 ─ 1914 ─ self-study in France, Paris.

1. The artist's first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, had a powerful influence on the artist's entire career. The love theme in his paintings is inextricably linked with the image of the beautiful Bella, the influence of her "bulging black eyes". And the features of many women depicted on Chagall's canvases are very reminiscent of his muse.
2. Marc Chagall was born on the day when there was a big fire in Vitebsk. Maybe that's why the raging flame has remained a favorite sight of the Belarusian artist for the rest of his life.
3. The International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" took the famous Chagall's cornflower as the basis for its logo. Now it is a kind of brand not only of the artist's hometown, but of the entire Republic of Belarus.
4. The meaning of life for Marc Chagall was his work. He was a rare guest at his own exhibitions, spending all his time in the studio.
5. Contrary to generally accepted rules, the works of a still living author were exhibited in the Louvre.