Marc Chagall

Artist Biography

Born Moishe Zakharovich Shagalov (Moishe Segal) in Vitebsk, Belarus (then in the Russian Empire), Chagall was the eldest of eight children in the close-knit Jewish family formed by his father, a herring merchant and his mother, Felga-Ita. This period of his life, described as happy though impoverished, appears in references throughout Chagall's art, prints and posters. Beginning to study painting in 1906 under famed local artist Yehuda Pen, Chagall moved to St. Petersburg only a few months later in 1907.

After becoming known as an artist, he left St. Petersburg to settle in Paris in order to be near the art community of the Montparnasse district, where he becomes a friend of Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay, and Fernand Léger. Chagall became an active participant in the Russian Revolution. The Soviet Ministry of Culture made him a Commissar of Art for the Vitebsk region, where he founded an art school. In 1941, the Chagalls settled in United States of America to pursue art, prints and posters.

On September 2, 1944, his beloved Bella, the constant subject of his art, prints and posters and companion of his life, died from an illness. Two years later in 1946 he returned to Europe. By 1949 he was working in Provence, France. During these intense years, he rediscovered the vital energy of color, free and vibrant. His works of this period are dedicated to themes inspired by love and the joy of life, with curved, sinuous figures. In 1973, the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall (Chagall Museum) opened in Nice, France. He died at the age of 98 in Saint-Paul de Vence, France.

Marc Chagall Art, Prints and Posters Collection