Birthday.

Childhood

On July 6, 1887 (June 24, old style) in Vitebsk, Moishe Segal was born into a simple Jewish family. His father Zakhar was a loader for a herring merchant, his mother Feiga-Ita kept a small shop, and his grandfather served as a teacher and cantor in the synagogue. As a child, Moishe attended an elementary Jewish religious school, then a gymnasium, despite the fact that in tsarist Russia Jewish children were forbidden to study in secular schools. At the age of nineteen, despite the categorical protests of his father, but thanks to the influence of his mother, Moishe entered the private "School of Painting and Drawing of the Artist Peng". He studied at this school for only two months, but that was the beginning. Bold start. Peng was so impressed with his daring color work that he allowed him to attend his school for free.

Here's a little about Yudel Moiseevich Pan . Russian and Belarusian painter, teacher, prominent figure of the "Jewish Renaissance" in the art of the early 20th century. This is his self-portrait.

In his paintings, Yudel Pen showed the life of the Jewish poor (“Watchmaker”, “Old Tailor”, “Old Soldier”, “After the Strike”). After 1905, religious motifs appear in Pan's work - "Jewish Rabbi”, “Last Saturday". In the 1920s, he created the paintings "Shoemaker-Komsomol" (1925), "Matchmaker" (1926), "Seamstress" (1927), "Baker" (1928).

The artist was killed at his home in Vitebsk on the night of February 28 to March 1, 1937. The circumstances of the murder have not yet been clarified. According to the official version: killed by relatives who wanted to take possession of the inheritance. Buried at the Staro-Semenovskoye Cemetery in Vitebsk.

This is a portrait of Marc Chagall, under which is the signature "Yu. M. Peng" 1914

Moishe was the eldest of nine children, and all the household, as well as neighbors and merchants, and even ordinary peasants, were then his models. Wooden houses, onion churches, mother's grocery store, Jewish commandments, customs and holidays - this simple and difficult, but such a "solid" life has forever merged into the boy's heart and the images of his beloved Vitebsk will be constantly repeated in the artist's work.

St. Petersburg

In 1907, with 27 rubles in his pocket, Moishe Segal went to the Russian capital. Since Russian discriminatory policies against Jews in St. Petersburg were much harsher, the young man was often forced to seek help from influential Jews. In addition, he was very limited in funds and lived in poverty, sometimes on the verge of poverty. But all these hardships, of course, had little meaning for the young artist, who got into the maelstrom of the artistic life of the capital at the junction of two revolutions.

Social revolutionary moods are always embodied in cultural life - avant-garde magazines are published, which then served as a kind of unifying centers for new ideas, innovative exhibitions are organized, doors are opened for acquaintance with modern Western art: French Fauvism, German Expressionism, Italian Futurism and many other trends. All this makes a huge impression on the formation of a young artist.

But, learning and absorbing everything new, Moishe keeps away from various associations and groups, starting to form her own unique style.

In his early work the search for their own pictorial language is already obvious. Fairy-tale and metaphoric images are already beginning to appear in everyday life plots: "Birth", "Death", "Holy Family".

Birth (1910) Death (1908)

Holy Family (1909)

For several years of his life in St. Petersburg, he studied at the private school of Seidenberg, worked in the editorial office of the Jewish magazine "Voskhod", studied for two years with Lev Bakst at the Zvantseva school. According to Chagall, it was Bakst who gave him "to feel the breath of Europe" and encouraged him to go to study in Paris. Moisha also attended the class of the innovative artist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. In the spring of 1910, the first exhibition was held in the editorial office of the avant-garde magazine Apollon.

Leon Nikolaevich Bakst (real name - Leib-Khaim Izrailevich, or Lev Samoylovich Rosenberg; 1866 - 1924) - Russian artist, set designer, book illustrator, master of easel painting and theatrical graphics, one of the most prominent figures in the association "World of Art" and theatrical and artistic projects of S.P. Diaghilev.

Lev Rosenberg was born on February 8 (January 27), 1866 in Grodno in a poor Jewish family of a Talmudic scholar. After graduating from high school, he studied as a volunteer atAcademy of Arts by illustrating books.

At his first exhibition in 1889, he adopted the pseudonymBakst- shortened grandmother's surname (Baxter). From the mid-1990s, he joined the circle of writersand artists, formed around Diaghilev and Alexander Benois, which later evolved into the association " World of Art ". In 1898 together with Diaghilev takes part in the founding of the publication of the same name. The graphics published in this magazine brought fame to Bakst.

The two most famous paintings by Bakst.

Dinner Portrait of Zinaida Gippius

In the summer of 1909, in Vitebsk, Marc Chagall met Bella Rosenfeld, the daughter of a Vitebsk jeweler.
"... She is silent, so am I. She looks - oh, her eyes! - I, too. As if we have known each other for a long time and she knows everything about me: my childhood, my present life and what will happen to me; how - as if she was always watching me, she was somewhere nearby, although I saw her for the first time. And I realized: this is my wife. Eyes shine on her pale face. Big, bulging, black! These are my eyes, my soul ... " . Marc Chagall, "My Life".
They will marry on July 25, 1915 and Bella will forever remain his first lover, wife and muse.

Paris

In August 1910, Maxim Vinaver, a member of the State Duma in 1905 and a philanthropist, offered the artist a scholarship that would enable him to go to study in Paris. Upon arrival, Moishe Segal takes on a creative pseudonym. Now he is Marc Chagall, in the French manner.
The first year he rents a studio from the artist Ehrenburg in Montparnasse. Chagall attends various classes in free art academies, writes at night, and disappears during the day at exhibitions, in salons and galleries, absorbing the art of the great masters: Delacroix, Courbet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and many others. Perfectly feeling the color, he quickly masters and uses the techniques of Fauvism. "Now Your Colors Are Singing", - says his St. Petersburg mentor Bakst.

In 1911, Chagall moved to the "Beehive", a building bought by Alfred Boucher after the sale of the World Exhibition in 1889 and which became a kind of squat art center and a haven for many poor foreign artists. Here Chagall met many representatives of Parisian bohemia - poets, artists; here he masters the techniques of new trends - cubism, futurism, orphism, as always, reshaping them in his own way; here he makes his first real successes: "Violinist", "Dedication to my bride", "Golgotha", "View of Paris from the window".

Violinist. 1911 - 1914

"Dedication to my bride (My betrothed)" 1911

"Golgotha" 1912

"View of Paris from the window" 1913

Despite the complete, headlong immersion in the Parisian artistic environment, he did not forget his native Vitebsk. "Snuff Tobacco", "Cattle Seller", "Me and the Village" are permeated with nostalgia and love.

"Snuff Tobacco" 1912

"Seller of cattle" 1912

"Me and the Village" 1911

In the spring of 1914, Chagall was taking his works, several dozen canvases and about one hundred and fifty watercolors to exhibitions in Berlin. Several personal and joint exhibitions with other artists are held with great success with the public. Then he leaves for a visit to Vitebsk to meet his family and see Bella. But the first begins World War and the return to Europe is delayed indefinitely.

Russia

Bella's brother Yakov Rosenfeld helps to free Chagall from being drafted to the front and helps with the work: the artist gets a place in the Military Industrial Committee in Petrograd. Chagall's work in these turbulent years is very multifaceted: visiting his native Vitebsk, he plunges into nostalgia and with new energy and new experience takes on everyday everyday motifs ("Window in the Village").

Window in the village. 1915

But there is a war going on, he sees the wounded, sees human sorrows and hardships, and also pours out his feelings on the canvas "War" in 1915.

He also sees how during the war years the persecution of Jews intensified and a number of very religious works were born.

"Red Jew" 1915

"Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)" 1916

The lyrical canvases created during these years are overflowing with love for Bella. Also at this time, Chagall begins to write an autobiographical book, My Life.

"Birthday" 1915

"Pink Lovers" 1916

"Walk" 1917 - 1918

"Bella in a white collar" 1917

August 9, 1918 In Petrograd, at a meeting dedicated to the establishment of the Ministry of Arts, Marc Chagall is offered the post of head of fine arts, but he refuses. However, with the assistance of Lunacharsky, he agrees to another proposal: the commissioner for arts in the Vitebsk province. By the anniversary of the October Revolution, as it turned out, an excellent organizer, Chagall decorated Vitebsk with great enthusiasm, "bringing art to the masses." Also at this time, his article "Revolution in Art" is published. The Free Academy, which has become a major creative center, operates in full force under his leadership in Vitebsk. Many well-known artists, both local and visiting, teach there. But, one day, returning from Moscow, Chagall discovers that the Free Academy has been turned into the Academy of Suprematism. This was the first result of the growing discontent on the part of the new government.

In 1920, Mark, with Bella and their daughter Ida, who was born to them in 1916, moved to Moscow, where he took an active part in the theatrical life of the capital - preparing sketches of scenery for performances. A staunch opponent of Suprematist art, Chagall, at the same time, being at the center of new cultural trends, significantly reconsiders his own style of writing, in many respects moving closer to the new, "revolutionary" style. However, party criticism, which is also facilitated by the artist's frankness and uncompromisingness, is growing, although it does not yet take open forms, after all, Chagall is an artist of world renown and this has to be reckoned with.

On January 1, 1921, the premiere of the performance "Miniatures" based on the plays of the recently deceased famous Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem takes place. On this occasion, Chagall is entrusted with the design of a small hall in which it is planned to present the production. He paints the walls, the ceiling, and the curtain with nine monumental paintings, which, according to the artist's intention, are a call for the cultural revival of the Jewish theater. " ...Finally, I will be able to turn around and express what I consider necessary for the revival of the national theater". But his step remained misunderstood, attacks and criticism from the "truly revolutionary" artists and the party were growing, and a year later the People's Committee of Education sent Chagall to teach drawing in a colony for the homeless. Misunderstanding and rejection by the regime forced the artist to leave the country.

France

After Chagall's departure, Bella and Ida live for a year in Berlin, which has become a haven for emigrants from Russia and other countries. At first, the artist tries to get the money owed to him for the 1914 exhibition, but to no avail - inflation has done its job. All that he manages to return is three paintings and a dozen watercolors.
In the spring of 1923, Paul Cassirer, a Berlin publisher and gallery owner, invited the artist to publish the book "My Life" with author's illustrations. Chagall accepts the offer and plunges headlong into mastering the art of engraving. And at the end of the summer of the same year, a letter arrives from his old Parisian friend: "Come back, you are famous. Vollard is waiting for you."
Returning to Paris, Chagall discovers another loss: most of the paintings for which he is now known, left in the "Hive" eight years ago, are lost. He gathers his strength and carefully, restoring from memory, drawings and reproductions, re-writes part of the works of the first Parisian period: "Birthday", "Me and the Village", "Over Vitebsk" and others.

Ambroise Vollard, a passionate book lover, collector, publisher, after the war, plans to release a series of books illustrated by famous contemporary artists and offers Chagall cooperation. Chagall chooses Gogol's "Dead Souls" and does an excellent job with the task. The metaphorical-fantastic graphics of the master perfectly reflects Gogol's sharp satire.

In Paris, Chagall reconnects with old friends and makes new ones. Being a very sociable and cheerful person, he easily finds a common language with everyone, but this does not prevent him, as usual, from staying away from various movements and associations. On the offer of the surrealists to join them, he refuses: "deliberately fantastic painting is alien to me." He bypasses charters, manifestos and slogans, preferring the pure freedom of creativity.
Fame brought him material freedom - now he travels with his family in France and European countries, finding a sense of peace and tranquility after everything he has experienced. New paintings are joyful, bright and light: "Village Life", "Double Portrait", "Ida at the Window".

"Village life" 1925

Double portrait with a glass of wine

It must be said that during this period he creates not so many paintings, since most of his time and energy he devotes to illustrating "Dead Souls", "Fables" by La Fontaine and the Bible.

In 1931, the artist and his family visit Palestine, discovering the land of their ancestors and feeling close to the center of their faith. These few months spent in the Holy Land, according to the artist, made the strongest impression on him in his entire life. Returning to Paris, he embarks on a new project, illustrating the Bible, in which, having already taken place as an artist and as a person, he ponders and realizes biblical symbols and plots on etchings.

Outside the window - the end of the 30s. Hitler's speeches and the clatter of Nazi boots are already clearly heard from Germany. New anti-Semitic laws are being adopted, an exhibition "Degenerate Art" is being held in Munich, which also presents the work of Chagall. Europe is again plunged into the darkness of war. Thanks to the help of the Emergency Committee for Rescue and the American consul in Marseilles, Chagall, with his family and paintings, sails on a ship to the USA.

USA

In America, which has received many emigrants from Europe, interest in European culture is growing sharply. In New York, which has become a kind of port for refugees, exhibitions are organized under the common theme "art in exile". Pierre Matisse, son of the famous artist, provides Chagall with his gallery for work and exhibitions. Chagall is working at this time mainly on unfinished paintings brought from the Old World.
In the spring of 1942, Leonid Myasin, choreographer and former dancer of the Russian Ballet, invites Chagall to take part in the design of the ballet Aleko. The artist completed the back decorations and four huge colorful backgrounds, recreating the fabulous atmosphere of Pushkin's poem. Chagall is also ordered to design the play "The Firebird" by George Balanchine, but Igor Stravinsky did not like his scenery and preference was given to Picasso. But the costumes designed by Chagall, which were made by Ida, were accepted.

In August 1944, the Chagall family is happy to learn about the liberation of Paris. The war is drawing to a close and they can't wait to return to France as soon as possible. But just a few days later, on September 2, Bella dies of sepsis in a local hospital. "Everything is covered in darkness." The artist is completely stunned by the grief that has overtaken him, and only nine months later he picks up brushes to paint two paintings in memory of his beloved: "Wedding Lights" and "Next to Her."

"Wedding Lights" 1945

He moves to a small house in the town of High Falls, where after a while he begins to work on illustrations for "A Thousand and One Nights". The result is thirteen wonderful sparkling engravings, with their colorful richness in perfect harmony with the Arabian tales.

France

In 1945, Ida invited Virginia McNeill-Haggard, a French translator and daughter of the former British consul, to help. Virginia was almost half the age of the artist, but outwardly she somehow resembled Bella. Chagall could not stand being alone. And a romance broke out between them. Their son David (David) McNeill was born in 1946. Virginia lived with Chagall for about 7 years, moved with him to Paris, but then left the artist with her son. Thanks to success in the United States, including financial success, in 1948 Chagall finally managed to finally move to France, which was already so dear and dear to his heart. Unfortunately, Vollard, a friend and regular customer of the artist, dies at the beginning of the war. However, the Parisian publisher Terjad buys Vollard's legacy and finally publishes Chagall's many years of work in the field of book design. Thanks to this, Gogol's Dead Souls was published in 1948, Lafontaine's Fables in 1952, and the Bible in French in 1956. The biblical theme would constantly accompany the artist's work and Chagall would return to it during the later period of his life. In addition to 105 etchings (1935-1939 and 1952-1956) for the publication of the French Bible, he will create many more paintings, engravings, drawings, ceramic images, stained-glass windows, tapestries on biblical themes. All this will make up the "Bible message" of the artist to the world, especially for which in 1973 in Nice Chagall will open a kind of museum, and the French government recognizes this "temple" as the official national museum.

In 1952, the artist met Valentina Brodskaya, who became simply "Vava" and the artist's official wife. Their marriage turns out to be happy, although Bella still remains the muse of the artist. In the 1950s, Chagall traveled a lot with his family, including the Mediterranean - Greece and Italy. He admires the Mediterranean culture: frescoes, the works of icon painters, all this inspires the artist to create color lithographs for the work of the ancient Greek writer Long "Dafins and Chloe" (1960-1962), as well as to the monumental techniques of frescoes and stained glass. Since the 1960s, Chagall has mainly switched to monumental art forms - mosaics, stained-glass windows, tapestries, and is also fond of 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 becomes a kind of "Andrey Rublev" of his time and receives 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 himself, 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).

"Master painting for the Paris Opera" 1963 - 1964

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 - in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. In 1973, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, Chagall visited Leningrad and Moscow. He is organizing an exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist donates several of his works to the USSR. 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 artist's 90th birthday. Contrary to all the rules, the works of a still living author were exhibited in the Louvre!

Until his last days, Chagall continued to paint, make mosaics, stained-glass windows, sculptures, ceramics, and work on scenery for theater productions. March 28, 1985, at the age of 98, Marc Chagall died in an elevator, rising after a day of work in the studio. He died "in flight", as a gypsy once predicted to him, and how he depicted himself flying in his paintings.

Gallery of paintings by Marc Chagall

Walk

Les Amoureux En Gris huile sur toile

Above the city

me and the village

flying wagon

Soldier

soldiers

Livestock seller

Le Saint Cocher de fiacre

La Naissance

Dedié à ma fiancée

De la Lune, Le Village Russe

la marchande de pain

Le Songe

Le Peintre et les Fiances

Sky of Paris

La Reine du Cirque

King David

Evening by the window

La Madonne du village

Bonjour Paris

Aleko

Le Village en Feu

Les Maries de la tour Eiffel

L "Acrobat

village russe

Les Amoureux

L "Ecuyère de Cirque

Juif a la Torah Gouache

la maison blue

Bella au col blanc

Autoportrait à la Palette

Mania en mangeant Kasher

Le Poete allonge

Le Juif en Rouge

Birthday

Le Violonniste

Midsummer Night's Dream

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a pioneer of modernism. Also he was a vey unusual person. Chagall gave one biographer the impression that he was “always slightly hallucinating.” Chagall himself said he was a dreamer who never woke up.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) became a pioneer of modernism and was a very unusual person. One biographer was left with the impression that Marc Chagall "was constantly in a mild hallucination." Chagall himself called himself a dreamer who never wakes up.

Movcha (Moses) Chagall was, as he put it, “born dead” on July 7, 1887, in the Belorussian town of Vitebsk, near the Polish border. His distraught family pricked the limp body of their firstborn with needles to try to stimulate a response. With that rude introduction to life, it's no wonder that Marc stuttered as a boy and was subject to fainting. “I was scared of growing up. Even in my twenties I preferred dreaming about love and painting it in my pictures,” he said.

Moishe (Moses) Chagall, as he himself said, was "born dead" on July 7, 1887 in the Belarusian city of Vitebsk, not far from the border with Poland. Heartbroken relatives pricked his relaxed body with needles, waiting for a scream. No wonder Mark, so inhospitably received, stuttered and was prone to fainting as a child. “I was afraid to grow up. Even after twenty years of love, I preferred to dream and depict it in pictures,” he said.

In 1906, at age 19, he wangled a small sum of money from his father and left for St. Petersburg, where he enrolled in the drawing school of the Imperial Society for the Protection of Fine Arts. His world broadened in 1909 when he signed up for an art class in taught by Leon Bakst, who, having been to Paris, carried an aura of sophistication. Bakst indulged Chagall's expressive, unconventional approach to painting and dropped names, exotic to the young man's ears, such as Manet, Cézanne and Matisse.

In 1906, having asked his father for a small amount of money, he left for St. Petersburg, where he entered the art (drawing) school of the Imperial Society for the Promotion (Protection) of Fine Arts. His view of the world widened when, in 1909, he entered the class of the painter Léon Bakst, who brought back from Paris an aura of "refined modernism". Bakst encouraged the expressive, unusual manner of Chagall's writing and poured such names - exotic to the ears of the young Chagall - as Manet, Cezanne and Matisse.

"Paris!" Chagall wrote in his autobiography. “No word sounded sweeter to me!” By 1911, at age 24, he was there, thanks to a stipend of 40 rubles a month from a supportive member of the Duma who had taken a liking to the young artist. When he arrived, he went directly to the Louvre to look at the famous works of art there. Often he'd cut a herring in half, the head for one day, the tail for the next. Friends who came to his door had to wait while he put on his clothes; he painted in the nude to avoid staining his only outfit. Many consider Chagall’s work during his four-year stay in Paris his most boldly creative.

"Paris!" - Chagall wrote in his biography - "No word sounded sweeter to me!". By 1911, at the age of 24, Chagall was already in Paris, thanks to a scholarship from a Duma deputy who liked the young artist's paintings. Arriving in Paris, he went straight to the Louvre to see the famous works of art. Often he divided one herring into two days: on the first he ate the "head", and on the second - the "tail" part. Friends had to wait until he was dressed to open the door for them, as he worked naked so as not to stain the only suit. Many consider the four-year period of Chagall's life in Paris the most daring in his work.

Above the Town
Above the city

Returning to Vitebsk in 1914 with the intention of staying only briefly, Chagall was trapped by the outbreak of World War I. At least that meant spending time with his fiancée, Bella Rosenfeld, the beautiful, cultivated daughter of one of the town’s wealthiest families. Despite her family's worries that she would starve as the wife of an artist, the pair married in 1915; Chagall was 28, Bella, 23. In his Above the Town he and Bella soar blissfully above Vitebsk.

Briefly returning to Vitebsk in 1914, Chagall fell under the outbreak of the First World War (and could not leave). At least he could spend more time with his fiancee Bella Rosenfeld, a beautiful and cultured girl. Her family was one of the richest in the city. Despite the fears of relatives that she would have to starve after marrying an artist, they nevertheless got married in 1915. Chagall was 28 and Bella was 23. In the painting "Above the City" he depicted how he and Bella, happy, fly over Vitebsk.

In 1917 Chagall embraced the Bolshevik Revolution. Giving up his job as commissar in 1920, Chagall moved to Moscow. But ultimately unhappy with Soviet life, he left for Berlin in 1922 and settled in Paris a year and a half later along with Bella and their 6-year-old daughter, Ida.

In 1917, Chagall accepted the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1920, leaving the post of commissar, he left for Moscow. But dissatisfied with life under the Soviets, in the end, in 1922, he left for Berlin, and a year and a half later he settled in Paris with his wife Bella and 6-year-old daughter Ida.

In June 1941, Chagall and his wife boarded a ship for the United States, settling in New York City. The six years Chagall spent in America were not his happiest. He never got used to the pace of New York life, never learned English. “It took me thirty years to learn bad French,” he said, “why should I try to learn English?” When Bella, his muse, confidante and best critic, died suddenly in 1944 of a viral infection, “everything turned black,” Chagall wrote.

In June 1941, Chagall and his wife went by ship to the United States and settled in New York. Six years lived in America were not the happiest for Chagall. He never got used to the high pace of life in New York and never learned English. "I've learned to speak some (bad) French in thirty years," he said, "why should I try to learn English?" When Bella, his muse, friend and best critic, died unexpectedly in 1944 of a viral infection, "everything went black," as Chagall wrote.

His daughter, Ida, found a French-speaking English woman, Virginia McNeil, to be his housekeeper. A diplomat’s daughter, McNeil had been born in Paris and raised in Bolivia and Cuba, but had recently fallen on hard times. She was 30 and Chagall 57 when they met, and before long the two were talking painting, then dining together. A few months later Virginia left her husband and went with Chagall to live in High Falls, New York. They bought a simple wooden house with an adjoining cottage for him to use as a studio.

His daughter Ida found him a housekeeper, Virginia McNeil, an Englishwoman who knew French. The daughter of a diplomat, MacNeil was born in Paris and grew up in Bolivia and Cuba, but now she was worried about better times. She was 30 and Chagall was 57, and soon they started talking about painting and then having lunch together. A few months later, Virginia left her husband and settled with Chagall in the High Falls area of ​​New York. They bought a simple wooden house with a separate cottage for a studio.

“I know I must live in France, but I don’t want to cut myself off from America,” he once said. France is a picture already painted. America still has to be painted. Maybe that's why I feel freer there. But when I work in America, it's like shouting in a forest. There's no echo." In 1948 he returned to France with Virginia, their son, David, born in 1946, and Virginia's daughter. They eventually settled in Provence. But Virginia abruptly left Chagall in 1951, taking the two children with her. Once again the resourceful Ida found her father a housekeeper- this time in the person of Valentina Brodsky, a 40-year-old Russian living in London. Chagall, then 65, and Vava, as she was known, soon married.

“I know that I should live in France, but I don’t want to tear myself away from America,” he once said, “France is a finished canvas (picture), and America is not yet written. Maybe that’s why I feel there freer. But working in America is like screaming in the woods for me. There is no echo." In 1948, he returned to France with Virginia and their son David (as well as Virginia's daughter from his first marriage). But in 1951, Virginia unexpectedly left Chagall, taking both children with her. And again, the enterprising Ida found her father a housekeeper - this time in the person of Valentina Brodskaya, a 40-year-old Russian from London. Soon the 65-year-old Chagall married "Vava", as Brodskaya was called at home.

The new Mrs. Chagall managed her husband's affairs with an iron hand. She tended to cut him off from the world. But he didn't really mind because what he needed most was a manager to give him peace and quiet so he could get on with his work. He never answered a telephone himself. Ida, who died in 1994 at age 78, gradually found herself seeing less of their father. But to all appearances Chagall's married life was a contented one, and images of Vava appear in many of his paintings.

The new Madame Chagall managed her husband's affairs with an iron hand. She tried to cut him off from the world. But he did not mind at all, as he really needed someone who would give him peace and quiet so that he could constantly work. He never answered the phone. Daughter Ida, who died in 1994 at the age of 78, saw less and less of her father. But purely externally, Chagall's family life was happy, and the image of Vava is visible in many of his paintings.

When he died in Saint Paul de Vence on March 28, 1985, at 97, Chagall was still working, still the avant-garde artist who refused to be modern. That was the way he said he wanted it: “To stay wild, untamed ... to shout, weep, pray.”

Chagall did not leave work until his death on March 28, 1985 in France (in Saint Paul de Vence) at the age of 97.

"When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is". During his 75-year career he produced an astounding 10,000 works.

In the early 1950s, Pablo Picasso remarked: "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only artist who truly understands color." Over a 75-year career as an artist, Chagall created an incredible number of paintings - 10 thousand.

Marc Chagall

Jewish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, muralist, one of the founders of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.

The fate of Chagall is inextricably linked with two cities - the Belarusian Vitebsk, of which he was a native, and Paris, where Mark took place as a painter.

Creativity Chagall experts refer to the Parisian school of modern art. In his work, Chagall managed to combine the ancient traditions of Jewish culture and modern innovation. create your own unique style.

He lived a long, bright, eventful life, in which there was everything - both exile, and great love, and extraordinary success.

Marc Chagall - Violinist, 1912

There is an ancient city of Vitebsk in northwestern Belarus. At the end of the 18th century, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the “Pale of Settlement” was defined, which determined the places of residence of the Jewish population, who moved to Russian Empire after the partition of Poland.

There were many Jewish poor people here. The Chagall family also belonged to it. The young Khatskel-Mordukh Chagall worked as a clerk in a fish shop in Peskovatiki, the Jewish district of the city. And his young wife Feige-Ite was sitting at home - waiting for her first child.

On July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk or Liozno, which was located 40 kilometers from the provincial center, a boy was born, who was named Moishe or Mark (this is the naturalized Russian name of Chagall).

He was an obedient, focused, serious boy beyond his years. But still no one knew that a real genius was growing in this very simple, poor family.

Mark Zakharovich was a believing boy all his life. And this is one of the important circumstances that help to understand the secret of the success of this amazing painter, one of the best artists of our time. Even in the most difficult times, he did not despair. Faith did not allow this: after all, despair is one of the sins. Everything must be accepted as the will of God. Including failures.

Chagall lived a long life - almost 98 years. And he died in 1985.

Mark Khatskel-Mordukh's father was a gentle, quiet, very pious and infinitely kind person. He never punished children for anything.

Mother Mark was a woman of a different stock. She was a talkative, powerful and enterprising woman. When any dangerous situation arose in the family, the indecisive father relied on the mother.

Marc Chagall - The Dead Man, 1908

Mark turned 13 in 1900. And in the autumn of the same year he was sent to the Vitebsk four-year vocational school.

Four years of study - Mark graduated from college in the spring of 1905 - did not really linger in Chagall's memory.

And in early childhood, and in adolescence, and during the years of study at a vocational school, Mark constantly painted. No one paid attention to his abilities, considering drawing to be just childish fun. In addition, Mark painted in an unusual way - he was more attracted to color combinations than form.

In 1905, the question arose about the future of the young man. Mark is 17 years old.

In those years, an amazing artist Yuri Moiseevich (Yudel) Pen lived in Vitebsk. A student of Repin, Peng studied for two years at the St. Petersburg Academy of Painting and returned to Vitebsk to organize an art school.

Here, in the school of Pan, in 1905 Marc Chagall also came. He was brought by his mother - the only one in a large family who appreciated the artistic abilities of the young man and believed in him.

The main problem was that painting lessons had to be paid. And my father still earned a penny. Mom didn't work at all. And there were 10 children in the family ...

After two months of classes with the best Vitebsk artist, Mark told his parents that he had to leave the city to where “real painters” study - to St. Petersburg.

"Adam and Eve", 1912

In the end, he was released and Mark left for St. Petersburg. At first it was very hard. He needed somewhere to live, something to eat and how to dress. Finally managed to get a job as a retoucher for a photographer. Then - a draftsman of store signs. Nothing worked out with the apartment - Mark spent the night in rooming houses for the poor, with casual acquaintances, for the winter he was hired as a watchman at the dacha.

But all the difficulties paled before the main problem - to go to study at an art school. Chagall's perseverance was rewarded. He managed to become a student of the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts of Nicholas Roerich. Here he studied for two years.

Painting teachers sincerely believed that Chagall simply ... did not know how to draw.

And Chagall stubbornly went his own way and did not listen to anyone. After studying for two years at the Drawing School and saving some money, Mark entered Seidenberg's private studio, where theater artist and graphic artist Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky became his teacher.

And here Chagall was faced with a misunderstanding of the teacher. Instead of diligent “copybooks”, the student stubbornly continued to draw his shtetl landscapes and ... flying people.

I had to leave Dubrovsky. In 1909, Chagall entered the private art school of Elena Nikolaevna Zvantseva. And again not for long. The same conflict is between teacher and student. He adored his teachers, he just couldn't write otherwise.

In those years, Mark lived very, very hard. He was not even poor, but a beggar.

The day when he could have breakfast became a holiday.

He was constantly hungry. And the most surprising thing was that from hunger and cold, from homelessness and constant destruction, Chagall did not despair, did not let go of his hands, did not fall ill.

In the end, Chagall left his apprenticeship - soon, for financial reasons and realizing that he did not give him anything new.

In 1908, Mark, having finally found. tolerable housing and swearing an oath promising to the hostess an early payment. got to work. Chagall moved on to his first professional job. She became the painting “Dead Man”, created in neo-primitivist style.

On one of his trips home, back in 1909, Mark met the daughter of a Vitebsk jeweler, Bella Rosenfeld. Then Mark left for Petersburg. Correspondence began between the young people.

A year later, in 1910, they became a bride and groom. But they couldn’t get married - Bella’s parents, who treated Mark very well, took his word that their daughter would become Chagall’s wife only if he could adequately support her.

They broke up. Mark left Vitebsk and, in general, buried the dream of marrying Bella. Thank God Chagall did not give up on his dream, but Bella waited. And these young people had a very happy life ahead of them. Real big love and a wonderful family. It was only necessary to be patient a little ... Four years.

In the spring of 1911, a well-known lawyer, one of the first members of the State Duma of Jewish nationality, Maxim Moiseevich Vinaver, entered the art shop on Nevsky Prospekt. Vinaver liked Chagall's paintings. The seller wanted three rubles for each painting. Then Vinaver said coldly.

"War", 1964

Listen, my dear, I will not buy these paintings. And you won't sell them. Tomorrow at the same time, bring this Chagall here. I want to talk to him.

They met the next day. Vinaver looked at canvases and drawings for more than an hour. Then he told the owner of the shop that he was taking everything, paid a hundred rubles and took Mark out into the street.

No more foot here. And you don't need the money. I buy your paintings from you personally - for five hundred rubles apiece.

Mark blinked his eyes in disbelief. And when one and a half thousand rubles in banknotes turned out to be in his hands, unexpectedly for himself and Vinavera ... he began to cry ...

They talked for a long time, for several hours. Wandered along the Nevsky. Vinaver was buying pies - Mark was terribly hungry. Finally Maxim Moiseevich said:

Listen, Mark. You're an artist. Great and very talented painter. And you don't have to study here. You need to go to Paris... You will go there immediately. I will cry…

In 1926, Chagall, who lived in Paris, learned of Vinaver's death. And he wrote: “It is with great sadness that I will say today that my loved one, almost a father, also died with him. My father gave birth to me. and Vinaver made an artist. Without him, I would probably be a photographer in Vitebsk and would have no idea about Paris.”

Very soon everything changed. Maxim Moiseevich, who had great connections, ensured that Chagall became a scholarship holder of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. True, it later turned out that Vinaver sent a monthly stipend to Chagall ... from his own money. And Mark found out about it too late.

Terribly shy at first, Chagall refused to go to Paris. But in May 1911, Marc Chagall went to Paris.

Mark fell in love with Paris. He adored this city. Worshiped, extolled, admired him. Chagall had the phrase “Paris is the second Vitebsk”.

With friends, he was simply unusually lucky. And all thanks to the fact that Chagall himself was a wonderful person who, like a magnet, attracted bright, talented, kind and generous people.

One day in 1912, journalist Anatoly Lunacharsky came from Russia to Paris. Correspondent of the newspaper "Kyiv thought". Lunacharsky became one of Chagall's friends. And then influential friends appeared in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

In 1912, Chagall sent his first Parisian paintings to the Autumn Salon in St. Petersburg. where they were exhibited together with the works of the World of Art group. And in 1913, Mark's paintings were presented in Moscow at the Target exhibition.

"Lovers above the city". 1918

Chagall gradually became a famous painter. For four years. held by him in Paris. he turned from a provincial. an unknown aspiring artist into an original innovator painter.

To understand and accept Chagall's paintings, some preparation is required.

During the four years of Chagall's stay in Paris, he painted ... several hundred paintings. It is impossible to calculate exactly, his legacy is as colossal as the legacy of Picasso, who created about 80 thousand works.

The amazing style of Chagall, which had no name. identified by Guillaume Apollinaire. He came to Chagall's studio and sat there for about an hour. Then he got up, muttered in embarrassment, “Supernatural!” Apollinaire called Chagall's style "Surnaturalism", that is, "supernaturalism".

By 1914, the position of the 27-year-old Marc Chagall in modern European painting was so established that he was already called the founder of the “new expressionism”. He was no longer as poor as four years ago.

Ahead was a grandiose and extremely important event for Chagall. His first solo exhibition was scheduled for June 1914 in Berlin.

The exhibition barely opened, giving Chagall a lot of pleasant and exciting experiences. He was going on the road - to Vitebsk - his younger sister was getting married.

Mark Zakharovich was going to Vitebsk no more than until the end of the summer. Two months is all. And then - back to Berlin to pick up the exhibition work. Then to Paris to work and work. Could he have known that his “date with Vitebsk” would drag on for 10 years? Hardly…

In Vitebsk he met Bella. It turned out that she had been waiting for these four years. Now Chagall was no longer poor, and the daughter-in-law's parents looked at Chagall differently. It took another year to talk about the wedding. In August 1914, the wedding of Mark's sister took place. And then the war began.

No one in Russia would stand on ceremony with a Jewish artist. In 1915, Chagall received a summons. But he was able to get a “white ticket”, release from the front and a solution to all problems. I had to leave the house in Vitebsk and move to Petrograd.

But before that, on July 25, 1915, in Vitebsk, in the parental home of Mark Zakharovich, a wedding took place with Bello. And this, despite the raging war, was the happiest day in the life of the artist.

God gave them a magnificent gift - he gave them great love. For life, to the grave, forever.

All his life, wherever Mark's fate threw, Bella was always there.

After Bella, he had both love, and another, also very happy. marriage. But only Bella remained in his memory.

"Flying carriage". 1913

Bella Rosenfeld was a beautiful woman. Bella became Chagall's main model, his muse, his inspiration. When she died suddenly - this happened in the fatal year for Chagall in 1944 - he was so crushed that he decided to leave the profession. But he did not leave, and thus preserved the memory of Bella.

In the summer of 1916, a year after the wedding, Bella gave Mark a daughter, who was named Ida.

In August 1918, Mark and his friends opened an art school in Vitebsk. then the museum. He found and attracted to work a young avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich.

For two years, Chagall was under a mandate and had full power. Mark was “displaced” by his colleague, the artist Malevich, from whom Chagall did not expect anything like this.

Malevich accused Chagall's work of being "not revolutionary enough." Moth, Chagall is still “playing” with images. Malevich went to Moscow, from there he brought documents stating that he would already be the main one.

And Chagall was just tired. In a few days, he handed over his affairs, packed his things, his daughter, and together with Bella ... left Vitebsk. As it turned out, forever.

In 1920, the Chagall family moved to Moscow. Chagall immediately received an order from the Jewish Chamber Theater. Little money was paid. There were no big orders. Chagall did not like all this, and he decided to leave Moscow.

A free place was found in Malakhovka near Moscow - in a children's colony for homeless children. That's where Chagall went. For the whole academic year, he worked as a simple art teacher. Chagall considered the only advantage of his position to be a huge bright workshop provided to him by the school administration.

Meanwhile, in Russia he was well known and appreciated. One after another, small exhibitions of his works were opened - in Petrograd, his native Vitebsk, Moscow

In the late spring of 1922, Chagall clearly understood that in the country that was his homeland, no one needed him.

Chagall decided to leave the country and forever. Russia is not his country. He decided to ask the authorities to let him go to the West, the formal reason being to clarify the fate of the paintings left in Berlin and Paris.

In June 1922, Marc Chagall, Bella and Ida boarded an international train that was supposed to take them to the Baltics.

They did not stay long in Canus. his paintings were already owned by private owners.

"Big Circus"

In Berlin, only ten paintings were returned, and in Paris, it seems, not a single one remains. Having sold two paintings, Chagall took ... to study. 35 years old, already a recognized master, Chagall studied again - this time with a new technique. Until the end of 1922, he mastered the technique of etching, drypoint and woodcuts. Finished the brilliant book "My Life".

The money was running out. Then from Paris he was sent an invitation from Ambroise Vollard. He was ashamed to say that he did not have a penny to come to Paris. But Ambroise sent him several hundred francs. He immediately packed his things. In September 1923 they boarded the Berlin-Paris train and left Germany.

Ahead was the city that Chagall idolized.

And everything immediately settled down. Vollard, the guardian angel of many talents, a generous philanthropist and a true shark of the art market, did everything as promised. Shot Chagall nice apartment in the center of Paris. Paid generous lifting. Bought several paintings - paying more than Mark calculated. And he provided a great one. interesting and rewarding work...

At this time, Vollard decided to publish Gogol's Dead Souls, and to release not just a good edition, but a luxurious, expensive, richly illustrated one. And the illustrations should have been done by Chagall.

It took Chagall 4 years to create illustrations. The book was completed only in 1927, published by Ambroise and made a splash.

The success was so convincing that in the same 1927, Vollard ordered Chagall illustrations for another book - La Fontaine's Fables. This work took another 3 years - the book was ready in 1930.

By 1931, Chagall's "personal library" - books decorated with his drawings and etchings - consisted of dozens of titles. And Ambroise Vollard conceived a grandiose project, on which he had high hopes. Namely, the edition of the Bible with illustrations by Marc Chagall.

This order both delighted and frightened the artist. Well, who is he to take on the illustration of the Book of Books? Putting aside many things, Mark and his family got ready for a long journey. He was to visit biblical places - Syria, Egypt and Palestine.

From this many-month journey, another Marc Chagall returned to France.

Only in the first nine years of work on illustrations. to the Bible - from 1930 to 1939 - Chagall created 66 etchings. And in 1952-1956 he supplemented them with 39 more etchings.

Hundreds of works on a religious theme. Illustrated Bible published by Vollard. His own reflections on the essence of being and the fate of his ancient people - all this eventually included a grandiose collection of Chagall's works. called by him "The Bible Message".

Having begun this great work in the 1930s, Chagall repeatedly returned to it later on. And then, in 1931, returning from Palestine, he did not rush to the easel, but continued his journey through Europe.

To Vollard's questions, he replied that his impressions are so strong that they need to be experienced. And Chagall and Bella traveled all over the Mediterranean. Turkey, Greece, Balkans, Spain…

Formally, Chagall remained a citizen of Soviet Russia - in the thirties already the USSR.

Russia wanted to return it, and in the end Chagall decided to put all the accents. He wrote an application addressed to the President of France with a request for French citizenship. In 1937 Marc, Bella and Ida Chagall became citizens of France.

In the 1930s, Marc Chagall's fame reached its peak. He was famous. And not just famous, but famous all over the world. His paintings were sold for huge sums of money. He wasn't rich enough to buy a villa or the like, but he didn't need money. Chagall saved up a lot of money after the war, becoming one of the richest artists of the 20th century and ahead of Picasso himself in this.

"Walk", 1917

By the early 1930s, Chagall's style was completely established. Experts defined the style of his artistic writing as surreal-expressionist.

And then fatal changes took place in the life of old Europe. The Nazis came to power in Germany. And Chagall, who since 1922 had demonstratedly eschewed politics, suddenly found himself embroiled in a dirty story started by the Nazis. In 1933, by order of the Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, 50 paintings by Chagall were seized from museums and galleries. And by order they were burned at the stake, arranged in Mannheim, as an example of “degenerate Jewish art”.

Chagall fell into a real depression. And he was treated for it, as it always happened with him, by hard work. One by one, he created canvases imbued with apocalyptic forebodings.

Marc Chagall - White Crucifixion, 1938

On July 6, 1939, Chagall celebrated his 52nd birthday. The date is not round, but still Mark Zakharovich called his friends. Vollard also arrived. I drank wine with Chagall ... This was their last meeting.

Paris was occupied by the Germans. The law of the new French authorities had just come out - all Jews were automatically deprived of French citizenship. They packed up and drove to the Spanish border. Ida stayed in Paris to resolve the issue with her father's paintings, and after a few days go after them.

The Spaniards did not allow Jews to enter the territory of their country, even for temporary residence. But Jews-refugees were freely allowed into Portugal.

In Spain, friends helped Chagall and his wife to travel to the Portuguese border. And then Mark and Bella ended up in Lisbon. A surprise awaited from here - Ida rolled in from Paris in a small old truck. And she brought ... Chagall's archive: paintings, drawings, sketches and documents.

In Lisbon, everything was much worse than Chagall imagined. They lined up outside the American embassy. Daughter Ida made her way to an appointment with the consul, and said that the great artist Chagall was in the crowd in the street.

A few days later, an invitation came from the leadership of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Officially, as a refugee from the Nazi regime.

In mid-June 1941, the Chagall family boarded an American liner.

from "The Bible Message"

In New York, Chagall worked primarily as a theater graphic designer at the Metropolitan.

On a September morning in 1944, Chagall went into the bedroom. It was quiet, and he approached Bella. She died in her sleep.

He sobbed and sobbed. In a matter of hours, Chagall's head turned gray. The scale of the loss was simply incomprehensible.

The daughter did everything for her father to return to this world. Chagall couldn't forget his wife.

Ida even found for her father ... a replacement for her deceased mother. Soon a young housekeeper appeared in the house. It was Virginia.

The story of their love, told by Virginia many years later in her book, published in 1986, a year after Chagall's death, shows Mark in a slightly different light.

Virginia was burdened by the position of "married mistress." But, having lived with Chagall for 7 years, she never spoke about marriage.

In 1946, a boy was born to Chagall and Virginia Haggard, who was named David - in honor of Chagall's younger brother who died in his youth.

Until 1952, Chagall willingly fiddled with his son and took the most direct part in his upbringing. And then it was all over. In 1952, Marc Chagall married for the second time, and his wife Valentina Brodetskaya immediately started a real war with Virginia.

Immediately after the end of the war, Chagall and Ida went to France several times. In 1947, Chagall and Ida attended the opening of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, where, among others, Chagall's paintings were exhibited.

In 1948, at the insistence of Ida Chagall, they moved to France. The return to France was triumphant. Chagall has already been openly called the best artist of our time and a national treasure of France.

Not far from Nice. Chagall chose a villa called "Collin". Bought it in 1966. Mark Zakharovich spent the rest of his life in this house. Here he ended his days.

In the spring of 1952, Ida brought together the owner of a London fashion salon and the daughter of a famous manufacturer, Valentina Grigoryevna Brodetskaya, who was vacationing in Nice, with her father. Valentina and Mark were separated by 25 years of age difference: Chagall was 65 years old, Brodetskaya - 40th. A stormy romance began between them. A month later, Valentita sold the London business and moved to Nice. And on July 12, 1952, a week after the celebration of Chagall's birthday, Mark and Valentina became husband and wife.

For Chagall, this marriage, which became the last in his life, was very happy.

Age changes everyone. He was not easy. A special theme is the stinginess of Chagall. In his youth, this man could give his friends the last. And in his mature years, having become a millionaire, he could spare money even for himself.

Then already, his paintings were sold very expensive. Rarely has a Chagall painting sold for less than $1 million.

Chagall is called "the most Jewish artist of the 20th century." The religious theme in his work is defining and even basic. Chagall visited Israel both before the revival of this country and after.

The first Chagall arrived in Tel Aviv in 1931.

The second visit of Chagall to this city took place 20 years later - in 1951. He again visited the Tel Aviv Museum and donated several paintings.

In 1957, Chagall received a large commission from the Savoy Chapel at Assy and the Cathedral at Metz for large panels and stained glass windows. Here he created almost 1200 square meters of wonderful biblical stained glass windows.

Since 1957, Chagall finally moved away from easel painting and took up applied art. He did not feel his age at all. In 1957, Chagall turned 70 years old, and he worked as in 30 years.

In 1961, Chagall received a new order - from Israel. He was invited to create a stained glass window for the synagogue of the Medical Faculty of the Hebrew University near Jerusalem. Together with the faithful Charles Mark, he stayed here for about a year.

In 1977, the Chagall Museum opened in Nice.

Exodus, 1952

The most famous mosaics, ceramic panels and stained glass windows. created by Chagall last years life, located in Europe. In 1969, Chagall received an order from Zurich to create stained glass windows for the Fraumünster church. The work took a year and a half, in 1970 the design of the church was completed.

This was followed by an order from Reims - in 1974, Chagall designed stained-glass windows for the local cathedral.

In 1976 he went to Mainz, where he created stained glass windows and panels for the St. Stefan church. This work lasted until 1981 ... Dozens of orders!

While working in Mainz, he was already over ... 90 years old!

In 1963, President Charles de Gaulle visited Chagall's home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Chagall was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Parisian Grand Opera.

A year later, in 1964, the Grand Opera received a new ceiling. And President de Gaulle - a picture from Chagall himself with an autograph.

Two years later, a similar order came from New York - Chagall was offered to create a panel for the Metropolitan Opera. And in 1966, Chagall and his wife moved to America for several months.

In June 1973, he went on a big and very exciting trip for him - to Moscow and Leningrad.

In Moscow, an exhibition of Chagall's works was arranged - in the Tretyakov Gallery.

They literally rushed with him, as the highest guest who could only visit Russia. He was recognized everywhere, even on the streets. He was surprised. It was calmly passed by in Paris and New York. In Nice, he had to stand in a general line for ice cream. And here…

On July 6, 1973, on the day of the artist's 86th birthday, a museum dedicated to him was opened in Nice. After the memorable 1973, Chagall acquired not only the status of the patriarch of French painting, but also a living national treasure.

In 1977, France and the entire art world celebrated the 90th anniversary of Marc Chagall. On his birthday, Chagall was presented with France's highest award, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. It was the award of kings and marshals. The award was presented by French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

He died on the evening of March 28, 1985. Calm and quiet. In the elevator while they took him to the second floor, to the workshop.

Source - Nikola Nadezhdin "Informal Biographies". Our friendly team advises everyone to read the books of this author.

Marc Chagall - biography, facts - the great Jewish painter updated: January 23, 2018 by: website

Heinrich Emsen and Hans Richter was an artist whose genius frightened and repelled. Creating paintings, he was guided solely by instinct: the compositional structure, proportions and chiaroscuro were alien to him.

It is extremely difficult for a person devoid of imagery of thought to visually perceive the paintings of the creator, because they do not fit into the concept of exemplary painting and are strikingly different from classical works and, where the accuracy of the lines is elevated to the rank of absolute.

Childhood and youth

Movsha Khatskelevich (later Moses Khatskelevich and Mark Zakharovich) Chagall was born on July 6, 1887 in the Belarusian city of Vitebsk, within the boundaries of the Russian Empire, separated for Jews. The head of the Khatskel family, Mordukhov Chagall, worked as a loader in a herring merchant's shop. He was a quiet, pious and hardworking man. The artist's mother, Feiga-Ita, was an energetic, sociable and enterprising woman. She ran the household, supervised her husband and children.

From the age of five, Movsha, like any Jewish boy, attended a cheder (elementary school), where he studied prayers and the Law of God. At the age of 13, Chagall entered the Vitebsk city four-year school. True, studying did not give him much pleasure: at that time, Mark was an unremarkable stuttering boy who, due to self-doubt, could not find a common language with his peers.

Provincial Vitebsk became for the future artist both the first friend, and the first love, and the first teacher. Young Moses enthusiastically painted endless genre scenes, which he watched daily from the windows of his house. It is worth noting that the parents had no particular illusions about the artistic abilities of their son. The mother repeatedly put drawings of Moses instead of napkins on the dining table, and the father did not want to hear about the offspring's education from the eminent Vitebsk painter Yudel Pan at that time.

The ideal of the patriarchal Chagall family was the son-accountant or, at worst, the son-clerk in the house of a wealthy entrepreneur. For a couple of months, young Moses begged his father for money for a drawing school. When the head of the family was tired of his son's tearful requests, he threw the necessary amount of money out the open window. The future graphic artist had to collect the rubles scattered over the dusty pavement in front of laughing townsfolk.

Studying was difficult for Movsha: he was a promising painter and a useless student. Subsequently, these two contradictory character traits were noted by all people who tried to influence Chagall's art education. Already at the age of fifteen, he considered himself an unsurpassed genius and therefore could hardly withstand the remarks of his teachers. According to Mark, only the great could be his mentor. Unfortunately, there were no artists of this level in a small town.

Having saved up money, Chagall, without telling his parents, left for St. Petersburg. The capital of the empire seemed to him the promised land. There was the only academy of arts in Russia, where Moses was going to enter. The harsh truth of life made the necessary adjustments to the young man's pink dreams: he failed his first and last official exam. The doors of a prestigious educational institution never opened before a genius. Not used to giving up, the guy entered the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, headed by Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich. There he studied for 2 months.

In the summer of 1909, Chagall, desperate to find his way in art, returned to Vitebsk. The young man fell into depression. The paintings of this period reflect the dejected inner state of the unrecognized genius. He was often seen on the bridge across the Vitba. It is not known what these decadent moods could have led to if Chagall had not met the love of his life - Bertha (Bella) Rosenfeld. Meeting Bella filled his empty vessel of inspiration to the brim. Mark wanted to live and create again.

In the autumn of 1909 he returned to Petersburg. To the desire to find a mentor equal to him in talent, was added new idea fix: the young man decided to conquer the Northern capital at all costs. Letters of recommendation helped Chagall to enter the prestigious art school of the eminent philanthropist Zvantseva. The artistic process of the educational institution was led by the painter Lev Bakst.

According to Moses' contemporaries, Bakst took him without any complaints. Moreover, it is reliably known that Lev paid for the training of a promising graphic artist. Bakst directly told Movsha that his talent would not take root in Russia. In May 1911, Chagall went to Paris on a scholarship received from Maxim Vinaver, where he continued his studies. In the capital of France, he first began to sign his work with the name Mark.

Painting

Chagall began his artistic biography with the painting The Dead Man. In 1909, the works “Portrait of my bride in black gloves” and “Family” created under the influence of neo-primitivist style were written. In August 1910, Mark left for Paris. The central works of the Parisian period were "Me and my village", "Russia, donkeys and others", "Self-portrait with seven fingers" and "Calvary". At the same time, he painted the canvases "Snuff of Tobacco", "Praying Jew", which brought Chagall to the artistic leaders of the resurgent Jewish culture.

In June 1914, his first solo exhibition opened in Berlin, which included almost all the paintings and drawings created in Paris. In the summer of 1914, Mark returned to Vitebsk, where he was caught by the outbreak of the First World War. In 1914-1915, a series of paintings was created from seventy works based on natural impressions (portraits, landscapes, genre scenes).

In pre-revolutionary times, epic monumental typified portraits were created (“Newspaper Seller”, “Green Jew”, “Praying Jew”, “Red Jew”), paintings from the Lovers cycle (“Blue Lovers”, “Green Lovers”, “Pink lovers") and genre, portrait, landscape compositions ("Mirror", "Portrait of Bella in a white collar", "Above the city").

In the early summer of 1922, Chagall went to Berlin to find out about the fate of the works exhibited before the war. In Berlin, the artist learned new printing techniques - etching, drypoint, woodcuts. In 1922, he engraved a series of etchings intended to serve as illustrations for his autobiography My Life (the folder with engravings My Life was published in 1923). The book, translated into French, was published in Paris in 1931. To create a cycle of illustrations for the novel "Dead Souls" in 1923, Mark Zakharovich moved to Paris.

In 1927, a series of gouaches "Circus Vollard" appeared with its crazy images of clowns, harlequins and acrobats that are transparent to the entire Chagall's work. By order of the Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany in 1933, the master's works were publicly burned in Mannheim. The persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany, the premonition of an approaching catastrophe, painted Chagall's works in apocalyptic tones. In the pre-war and war years, crucifixion became one of the leading themes of his art (“White Crucifix”, “Crucified Artist”, “Martyr”, “Yellow Christ”).

Personal life

The first wife of an outstanding artist was the daughter of a jeweler Bella Rosenfeld. He later wrote: "For many years her love illuminated everything I did." Six years after the first meeting, on July 25, 1915, they got married. With the woman who gave him a daughter, Ida, Mark lived a long and happy life. True, fate developed in such a way that the artist outlived his muse much: Bella died of sepsis in an American hospital on September 2, 1944. Then, after returning to the empty house after the funeral, he put on the easel a portrait of Bella, painted by him back in Russia, and asked Ida to throw away all the brushes and paints.

"Artistic mourning" lasted 9 months. Only thanks to the attention and care of his daughter, he returned to life. In the summer of 1945, Ida hired a nurse to look after her father. So Virginia Haggard appeared in Chagall's life. An affair broke out between them, which gave Mark a son, David. In 1951, the young lady left Mark for the Belgian photographer Charles Leirens. She took her son and refused 18 works of the artist, presented to her at different times, leaving herself only two of his drawings.

Moses again wanted to commit suicide, and in order to distract her father from painful thoughts, Ida brought him together with the owner of a London fashion salon, Valentina Brodskaya. Marriage with her Chagall issued 4 months after they met. The daughter of the creator has more than once regretted this pimping. The stepmother did not let children and grandchildren go to Chagall, "inspired" to draw decorative bouquets, because they "sold well", and thoughtlessly spent her husband's fees. With this woman, the painter lived until his death, continuing, however, to constantly paint Bella.

Death

The eminent artist died on March 28, 1985 (aged 98). Mark Zakharovich was buried at the local cemetery of the commune of Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Today, the works of Marc Chagall can be seen in galleries in France, USA, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Israel. The memory of the great artist is also honored in his homeland: the house in Vitebsk, where the graphic artist lived for a long time, was turned into a house-museum of Chagall. To this day, lovers of the painter's work can see with their own eyes the place where the avant-garde artist created his masterpieces.

Artworks

• "Dream" (1976);
• "Spoon of Milk" (1912);
• "Lovers of the green" (1917);
• "Russian wedding" (1909);
• Purim (1917);
• "Musician" (1920);
• "For Vava" (1955);
• "Peasants at the Well" (1981);
• "Green Jew" (1914);
• "Seller of Cattle" (1912);
• "Tree of Life" (1948);
• "The Clown and the Violinist" (1976);
• "Bridges over the Seine" (1954);
• "Couple or Holy Family" (1909);
• "Street Performers at Night" (1957);
• "Honoring the Past" (1944);

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 to study in the Jewish primary 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 rather 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 across 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 royal nor Soviet power in his opinion, he was not needed.

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.