3. Moishe Shagal a.k.a. Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall, born Moishe Shagal, was born
near Vitebsk, Belarus (Russia) in 1887. He
was the oldest of 9 children in an orthodox
jewish family. His family was very poor, and life
in russia was very hard. Jewish people were
discriminated against, and
were not allowed to attend
regular schools or
universities. His mother
bribed a professor to get him
into high school. There he
noticed a fellow student
drawing, something he had
never seen done before. It
opened up a whole new
world for him.
4. He decided he wanted to
become an artist. In 1906, he
moved to St. Petersburg, then
the capital of Russia and its
cultural and art center. He
enrolled in art school and began
painting portraits and
landscapes. There he met Bella,
the woman who would become
his wife. In 1910, he moved to
Paris and learned about popular
styles of painting. Although he
was interested in what other
artists were doing, he
maintained his own distinctive
style. He became known for his
beautiful use of color and for his
subject matter, which was a folk
art style with images from his
russian childhood.
The Fiddler (1912)
5. He continued painting
jewish motifs and
memories of his home in
Vitebsk, developing a
quirky set of symbols which
repeated in his many
paintings. Ghostly figures
floating in the sky, giant
fiddlers dancing on tiny
dollhouses, and animals
(like goats) doing human
things.
I AND THE VILLAGE (1911)
8. Chagall wanted to return to Vitebsk to marry
Bella, so he accepted an invitation to show his
work at a gallery in Berlin, with a plan to
combine the two trips. While he was there,
World War I broke out, and Russia closed its
borders, trapping him there. Although he was
stuck in Russia with a war going on around
him, he was very happy to have married Bella,
so his paintings of this time are some of his
most happy ones. After suffering through the
Russian Revolution of 1917, he returned to
Paris, traveling to the south of France often,
painting the beautiful colors of the Cote d’Azur
He spent several years on a huge project
illustrating the Bible.
Bella with white collar (1917)
9. Beginning in 1937, Adolf Hitler came
to power in Berlin and started
confiscating works of modern art from
German museums. Chagall was both
a modern artist and a Jew, so he was
suddenly out of favor in Germany. He
remained in France, not
understanding the danger he was in
as World War II ripped Europe apart
and Hitler terrorized Jewish people.
The New York Museum of Modern Art
added his name to a list of prominent
artists whose lives were in danger,
and Chagall fled France for the United
States in 1941, shortly before
Germany invaded Russia.
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1939)
10. Chagall was an instant celebrity
in America. He designed sets
and costumes for the New York
Ballet Theater and was adored
by critics and art patrons. While
he was in America, he learned
that the Germans had
destroyed his beloved Vitebsk
in Russia. Only 118 people
survived where the population
had been 240,000.
In 1944, his wife Bella died and
he stopped work for many
months.
Three Candles (1938-40)
12. With World War II over, he returned
to the south of France. He painted,
made sculptures, ceramics, wall
tiles, murals, stained glass windows,
mosaics and tapestries.
La Mariee (1950)
14. In 1963 He painted
the ceiling of the
Paris Opera House.
He was 77 years
old. It took a year to
complete the 2,400
square foot painting.
Critics felt it was
wrong to have a
non- frenchman
doing the job, but
when the work was
finished, it was so
beautiful that even
his harshest critics
loved it.
Paris Opera House ceiling (1963)
15. Chagall is famous for
his work in stained
glass. Colored glass
was appealing to him
because of his love of
intense colors. Because
light shines through the
colors, it has an added
intensity that paint on a
canvas can’t achieve.
He created stained
glass for churches,
synagogues, and as
memorials.
The art institute of
chicago has a beautiful
chagall stained glass
“Peace” created for the United Nations (1964) piece.
16. Chagall also liked to create huge mosaic murals.
In 1974, he created “the Four Seasons”, a gift
to the city of Chicago.
17. The Four Seasons (east)
The Four Seasons (west)
The mural is 70 feet long, 14 feet high, and 10 feet wide. You can see it
today if you visit First National Plaza at Dearborn and Monroe streets in
Chicago.
18. Marc Chagall died on
March 28, 1985 in Saint-
Paul, France. He was 97
years old. A poor child
from a place in Russia far
removed from the art
scene, he rose to great
fame, making an
enormous impact in the
world of modern art. His
work used color and a
mixture of reality and
fantasy to tell folk stories
and explain his Russian/
Jewish heritage. He lived
through an extraordinary
period of history, and
spent his life painting the
world he live in.
