Marc Chagall

Born: July 7, 1887
Died: March 28, 1985

Early Life and Works
Marc Chagall was born in 1887 in Vitebsk, a modest city in the western Russian Empire near the Polish border. Raised in a devout Jewish family, he was one of nine children in a household that, while not wealthy, avoided dire poverty. His father earned a living in a herring warehouse, and his mother managed a small shop selling essentials like fish, flour, sugar, and spices. This humble yet vibrant upbringing in a Jewish community of about 20,000 shaped Chagall’s early worldview and later artistic themes. As a child, he attended a Jewish elementary school (heder) before transitioning to a local public school where lessons were taught in Russian—a shift that broadened his cultural exposure.

Chagall’s artistic journey began with basic drawing lessons at school, sparking a passion that led him to study under Jehuda Pen, a local realist painter in Vitebsk. In 1907, at age 20, he moved to St. Petersburg, a cultural hub, where he spent three formative years honing his craft. There, he studied sporadically, including under Léon Bakst, a renowned stage designer whose flair for theatricality influenced Chagall’s emerging style. Early works from this period, such as The Dead Man (1908)—featuring a haunting roof violinist, a recurring symbol—and My Fiancée with Black Gloves (1909), reveal his initial experiments with form and color. These paintings showcase a young artist already pushing boundaries, using portraits as a canvas for abstract explorations in black and white.

In 1910, a stipend from a St. Petersburg patron allowed Chagall to relocate to Paris, a move that would define his career. After 18 months in Montparnasse, he settled into La Ruche, a chaotic artists’ colony nicknamed “the Beehive.” This bohemian enclave introduced him to a circle of avant-garde luminaries—poets like Blaise Cendrars, Max Jacob, and Guillaume Apollinaire, and painters including Chaim Soutine, Robert Delaunay, and Cubists like Albert Gleizes and Fernand Léger. Surrounded by such bold creativity, Chagall’s art blossomed. He shed the muted tones of his Russian works, embracing the vivid palettes of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Fauvism he encountered in Parisian galleries. This period marked the birth of his signature poetic, dreamlike style—irrational yet deeply personal.

Maturity
Chagall’s first four years in Paris (1910–1914) are often hailed as his artistic peak. Paintings like Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers (1912), I and the Village (1911), Hommage à Apollinaire (1911–12), Calvary (1912), The Fiddler (1912), and Paris Through the Window (1913) encapsulate the essence of the artist he would remain for decades. His use of color grew richer, though still delicate, hinting at the resonance he’d later master. Figures—often whimsical, upside-down, or floating—were scattered across his canvases in a way that defied logic, evoking film montages or the hazy logic of dreams. These works blended Yiddish humor, Russian folklore, and a theatrical flair, frequently featuring a curly-haired, romanticized version of Chagall himself. Memories of Vitebsk and his childhood fueled this imagery, anchoring his abstractions in personal nostalgia.

In 1914, Chagall’s first solo exhibition at Berlin’s Der Sturm gallery caught the eye of German Expressionists, cementing his reputation. A subsequent trip to Vitebsk was interrupted by World War I, stranding him in Russia. There, he briefly adopted a realist approach, painting local scenes and a series of elderly Jewish figures, such as The Praying Jew (1914) and Jew in Green (1914). In 1915, he married Bella Rosenfeld, a merchant’s daughter from Vitebsk, whose presence inspired works like Birthday (1915–23) and Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine (1917)—joyful depictions of love and acrobatic exuberance.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 initially thrilled Chagall. Appointed art commissar for Vitebsk, he launched ambitious plans for an art academy and museum. But ideological clashes with colleagues soured the experience, and by 1920, he moved to Moscow. There, he designed sets and costumes for Sholem Aleichem’s plays and murals for the Kamerny Theatre, showcasing his versatility. In 1922, he left Russia permanently, stopping in Berlin—where he found many works from 1914 had vanished—before returning to Paris in 1923 with Bella and their daughter.