Mark Zakharovich Chagall Chagall, Marc. Marc Chagall - biography, facts - the great Jewish painter Marc Chagall as a brand

In 1887, on July 7, the future world-class artist Marc Chagall was born, whose paintings throughout the 20th century evoked consternation and delight among visitors to numerous vernissages where the paintings of the famous avant-garde artist were exhibited.

The beginning of a creative journey

Moisha’s childhood, as his parents initially named him, was spent in the city of Vitebsk. The boy's father worked as a loader at a fish market, his mother ran a small shop, and his grandfather was a cantor in a Jewish synagogue. After graduating from a religious Jewish school, Moishe entered a gymnasium, although Tsarist Russia Jews were not allowed to attend Russian educational institutions. Of course, it was difficult to study in an illegal position. After studying for several years, he left the gymnasium and became a volunteer student at the School of Drawing and Painting of Artist Peng. Two months later, Mr. Pan, amazed by the young man’s talent, offered him free education at your school.

The young artist redrew all his relatives in turn, then began to paint portraits. This is how the bright, original painter Marc Chagall appeared in the world of art, whose paintings would soon be bought by the best. A pseudonym, or rather a new name, he came up with for himself. Moishe became Mark, and Chagall is a modified Segal, from his father’s surname.

northern capital

Twenty-year-old Mark decided not to sit still and soon went to St. Petersburg, hoping to continue his painting studies there. He had no money, and besides, the discriminatory policy of the Russian state towards Jews was making itself felt. I had to live in the northern capital on the verge of poverty, getting by with odd jobs. However, Chagall did not lose heart, he was happy to be in the whirlpool artistic life St. Petersburg. Gradually, he formed a circle of useful acquaintances among the Jewish elite, and new friends began to help the young artist.

Chagall Marc, whose paintings immediately began to be seen as the harbingers of a new surrealist style, tried to develop his individuality and did not follow the generally accepted canons of painting. And, as later life showed, he chose Right way. In the artist’s early works one could already discern the fantastic fairy-tale nature of the plot and the metaphorical nature of the images. Everything that Marc Chagall wrote in that period, paintings with the titles: “The Holy Family”, “Death”, “Birth”, are striking examples unusual style. Wherein last topic, the birth of a baby, was reflected in Chagall’s work several times, in different interpretations. However, in all cases, the woman in labor was depicted with a small drawing, which was inferior in size to other characters, men, goats, horses, who were around. However, this is the phenomenon of Marc Chagall’s work; he knew how to arrange microscopic details in such a way that they suddenly began to dominate the general background. A tired woman in labor and a midwife with a newborn in her arms became the center of the picture in some incomprehensible way.

Meeting Lev Bakst

While in St. Petersburg, Marc Chagall, whose paintings attracted increasing attention from the secular public, continued his studies at private school arts Seidenberg, while doing simple work at the Jewish magazine "Voskhod" in order to provide himself with food. Later he met with a teacher at Zvantseva’s school, who played a decisive role in the artist’s fate. Chagall also attended lectures by the painter Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, who attracted him as a champion of everything new in art.

In the spring of 1910, Marc Chagall made his debut - his paintings participated in the vernissage, which was organized by the editors of the Apollo magazine. And shortly before this event, the artist met the woman of his life, Bella Rosenfeld. The love between them flared up instantly, and happy times continued for both from the day the young people got married and began to live together. In 1916, the couple had a daughter, who was named Ida.

Moving to Paris

In the summer of 1910, deputy Maxim Vinaver, philanthropist and big fan Fine Arts, offered Chagall a scholarship that allowed him to study in Paris. The capital of France greeted Mark warmly, he became close to the artist Ehrenburg and, with his assistance, rented a studio in Montparnasse. Chagall writes at night, and in daytime disappears in galleries, salons and exhibitions, absorbing everything connected with the great art of painting.

The masters of the early 20th century became an example for young artist. The great Cezanne, Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Delacroix - the enthusiastic Chagall tries to adopt something from each of them. His mentor in St. Petersburg, Lev Bakst, once looked at his student’s Paris drawings and confidently declared that “now all the colors are singing.” The paintings of Marc Chagall, photos of which are presented on the page, fully confirm the teacher’s opinion.

Creative refuge

Soon Chagall moved to the "Beehive", a kind of Parisian art center that became a haven for poor visiting artists. Here Mark meets poets, writers, painters and other representatives of the bohemians of the French capital. All those works that Marc Chagall wrote in the “Beehive” (paintings with the titles: “The Violinist”, “Calvary”, “Dedication to My Bride”, “View of Paris from the Window”) became his " business card"However, despite complete assimilation with the Parisian creative environment, the artist does not forget about his native Vitebsk and paints the following paintings: “Cattle Seller”, “Me and the Village”, “Snuff of Snuff”.

Early creativity

One of the most memorable paintings is “Window. Vitebsk”, painted in the style of “naive art” or “primitivism”, which Marc Chagall followed in the early period of his work. "Window. Vitebsk" was created in 1908, when the artist was just beginning to master the wisdom of the "primitive style".

Over the several years spent in Paris, Marc Chagall painted about thirty paintings and more than 150. He took all the works to Berlin for the art exhibition of 1914, which became his main benefit in the art world. The public was delighted with Chagall's paintings. From Berlin, the artist was going to go to his native Vitebsk to see Bella, but the sudden outbreak of the First World War prevented him.

The further fate of the artist

Marc Zakharovich Chagall, whose paintings have already become widely known, was exempt from military conscription. Friends helped him get a position in the Military-Industrial Department of St. Petersburg, and for some time the artist was provided with housing and work. Chagall's paintings during this turbulent time were especially action-packed and realistic. “War”, “Window in the Village”, “Feast of Tabernacles”, “Red Jew” - these are just a few of the paintings that were created during the war. Separately, the artist created a lyrical series of paintings: “Walk”, “Pink Lovers”, “Birthday”, “Bella in a White Collar”. These paintings represent only a small part of his extensive series of works from the First World War.

"Walk"

One of the most famous works artist, created by him in 1918. Post-revolutionary sentiments, faith in a happy future, the romance of young love - all this is reflected on the canvas. Disappointment in new social values the country of the Soviets had not yet arrived, although it was just around the corner. Nevertheless, one of the most faithful followers of the new ideals of the time was the artist Marc Chagall. “The Walk” is an optimistic picture, full of bright hopes; the characters do not think about the negative. The woman depicted on the canvas hovers above reality, the young man is also ready to get off the ground.

Works by Chagall 1917-1918

The artist was inspired revolutionary events that occurred in Petrograd. He, like many representatives of the intelligentsia of the Northern capital, felt the fresh wind of change and believed in their infallibility. St. Petersburg artists, writers, composers began to promote new image life, and one of the first in the ranks of enthusiasts advocating for the equality of all people was Marc Chagall. The paintings “Above the City”, “War on Palaces - Peace on Huts” and many other paintings of that period reflect the artist’s desire to create.

Bella and a bouquet of flowers

A special place in the artist’s work is occupied by a painting dedicated to his beloved wife, who once brought him a bouquet of flowers to congratulate him on his birthday. Without wasting a second, he rushed to the easel. Touched to the depths of his soul, the artist tried to capture beautiful moments on canvas. This was all Marc Chagall. “Birthday” is a painting created in a matter of minutes in the form of a sketch, and then finalized. It became one of the best in the artist’s collection. As he himself stated, inspiration comes for a few minutes, it is important not to miss it.

Responsible position

In 1918, Mark Zakharovich Chagall, whose paintings were already considered the property of the Vitebsk province, became the Commissioner for Arts of the local executive committee. The artist showed extraordinary organizational skills; he decorated Vitebsk for the anniversary October revolution various banners, flags and banners. "Art to the masses!" - that was his slogan.

In 1920, Marc Chagall moved to Moscow with Bella and little Ida, where he began working in the field of the theater community. In the process of creating scenery for performances, Chagall radically revised his creative methods, trying to get closer to the “revolutionary” new style in painting. The party authorities made several attempts to attract the artist to their side, but since Chagall was already a recognized world-class master of the brush, these attempts were not successful.

Confrontation

The tension that arose between the freedom-loving artist and the communist leadership soon grew into open confrontation, and Marc Chagall left the country of the Soviets with his family.

Berlin became the first European city in which Mark, Bella and little Ida settled. The artist’s attempts to get money for the 1914 exhibition ended in nothing; most of the paintings disappeared. Only three canvases and a dozen watercolor drawings were returned to Chagall.

In the summer of 1923, Mark receives a letter from Paris from his old friend, who calls him to come to the capital of France. Chagall travels, and another disappointment awaits him there - the paintings that he once left in the Hive also disappeared. However, the artist does not lose heart; he begins to paint his masterpieces again. In addition, Marc Chagall receives an offer from a major publishing house to illustrate books. He begins work with the story " Dead Souls" Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and copes with the task superbly.

Family trips

Chagall's financial situation has strengthened, and he and his family begin to travel around European countries. And in between voyages, the artist paints his immortal canvases, which become increasingly lighter and lighter: " Double portrait", "Ida at the Window", "Village Life". In addition to paintings, Chagall illustrates the edition of "La Fontaine's Fables".

In 1931, Marc Chagall visits Palestine, he wants to experience the land of his ancestors. The several months that the artist spent in the Holy Land forced him to change his attitude towards life. Bella and daughter Ida, who were nearby, facilitated this. Returning to Paris, Chagall was engaged only in biblical illustrations.

Moving to America

At the end of the thirties, fleeing from German Nazis, the Chagall family emigrates to the USA. And again - working with theatrical scenery, this time at the Russian Ballet. then he rejected Chagall’s works and gave preference to Picasso’s sketches, but the theatrical costumes by Mark were accepted.

The war in Europe is in full swing, although it is already clear that it is being defeated. In the summer of 1944, good news comes - Hitler is on the verge of surrender. And at the end of August, misfortune overtakes Marc Chagall; Bella unexpectedly dies of sepsis in the hospital. The artist loses the meaning of life from grief, but his daughter Ida supports him and helps him survive. Only nine months later did Chagall pick up his brushes. Now he finds salvation in work, painting both day and night. The artist’s creative impulses helped him survive the acuteness of his loss.

Marc Chagall, along with the avant-garde artists Heinrich Emsen and Hans Richter, was an artist whose genius frightened and repelled. When creating paintings, he was guided solely by instinct: compositional structure, proportions and light and shade were alien to him.

It is extremely difficult for a person lacking imagery of thought to visually perceive the creator’s paintings, 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 the residence of 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 hard-working man. The artist's mother Feig-Ita was an energetic, sociable and enterprising woman. She ran the household and managed her husband and children.

From the age of five, Movsha, like any Jewish boy, attended cheder (primary 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 lack of self-confidence, could not find common language with peers.

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

The ideal of the Chagall patriarchal family was a son-accountant or, at worst, a son-clerk in the house of a wealthy entrepreneur. Young Moses begged his father for money for a drawing school for a couple of months. When the head of the family got tired of his son’s tearful requests, he threw away the required amount money through the open window. The future grafist had to collect the rubles that had scattered across the dusty pavement in front of the laughing inhabitants.

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

Having saved 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 art academy in Russia, where Moses was going to enter. The harsh truth of life made the necessary adjustments to the young man’s rosy dreams: he failed his first and last official exam. The doors of the prestigious educational institution never opened to the genius. The guy, not used to giving up, entered the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, headed by Nicholas Roerich. There he studied for 2 months.

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

In the fall of 1909 he returned to St. 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 enter the prestigious drawing school of the eminent philanthropist Zvantseva. Artistic process The educational institution was headed by the painter Lev Bakst.

According to the testimony of Moses' contemporaries, Bakst took him without any complaints. Moreover, it is reliably known that Lev paid for the training of a budding 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 works 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” were written under the influence of neo-primitivist style. 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” and “Praying Jew,” which made Chagall one of the artistic leaders of the reviving Jewish culture.

In June 1914, his first personal 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 consisting of seventy works was created, based on impressions from nature (portraits, landscapes, genre scenes).

In pre-revolutionary times, epically monumental typical 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, woodcut. In 1922, he engraved a series of etchings intended to serve as illustrations for his autobiography “My Life” (a folder with engravings “My Life” was published in 1923). The book, translated into French, was published in Paris in 1931. To create a series 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, which were cross-cutting throughout 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 Jews in Nazi Germany and the premonition of an approaching catastrophe painted Chagall's works in apocalyptic tones. In the pre-war and war years, one of the leading themes of his art was the crucifixion (“White Crucifixion”, “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: “ Long years her love illuminated everything I did.” Six years after their first meeting, on July 25, 1915, they got married. With the woman who gave him his daughter Ida, Mark lived a long and happy life. True, fate worked out in such a way that the artist outlived his muse: Bella died of sepsis in an American hospital on September 2, 1944. Then, returning after the funeral to the empty house, he put a portrait of Bella, which he had painted back in Russia, on an easel, 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 did he return to life. In the summer of 1945, Ida hired a nurse to care for her father. This is how Virginia Haggard appeared in Chagall’s life. A romance 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 by the artist given to her in different time, leaving only two of his drawings for himself.

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

Death

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

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

Works

"Dream" (1976);
“A Spoonful of Milk” (1912);
“Green Lovers” (1917);
“Russian Wedding” (1909);
"Purim" (1917);
"The Musician" (1920);
“For Vava” (1955);
“Peasants at the Well” (1981);
"The Green Jew" (1914);
"Cattle Dealer" (1912);
"The Tree of Life" (1948);
"The Clown and the Fiddler" (1976);
"Bridges over the Seine" (1954);
"The Couple or the Holy Family" (1909);
"Street Performers at Night" (1957);
"Reverence for the Past" (1944);

Russian and French artist Belarusian- Jewish origin

Marc Chagall

short biography

Mark Zakharovich (Moisey Khatskelevich) Chagall(French Marc Chagall, Yiddish מאַרק שאַגאַל‏‎; July 7, 1887, Vitebsk, Vitebsk province, Russian empire(current Vitebsk region, Belarus) - March 28, 1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, France) - Russian and French artist of Belarusian-Jewish origin. In addition to graphics and painting, he was also involved in scenography and wrote poetry in Yiddish. One of the most famous representatives 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 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 each other's first cousins. The artist’s grandfather, Dovid Yeselevich Chagall (in documents also Dovid-Mordukh Ioselevich Sagal, 1824-?), came from the town of Babinovichi, Mogilev province, and in 1883 settled with his sons in the town of Dobromysli, Orsha district, Mogilev province, so in the “Lists of owners real estate city of Vitebsk”, the artist’s father Khatskel Mordukhovich Chagall is recorded as a “dobromyslyan tradesman”; the artist's mother came from Liozno. Belonged to the Chagall family since 1890 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 paternal grandmother), who by that time lived in the town of Liozno, 40 km from Vitebsk.

He received a traditional Jewish education at home, studying Hebrew, 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 Pan, then moved to St. Petersburg.

From Marc Chagall's book "My Life": " Having grabbed twenty-seven rubles - the only money in my entire life that my father gave me for an art education - I, a rosy-cheeked and curly-haired young man, set off for St. Petersburg with a friend. It's decided! Tears and pride choked me when I picked up the money from the floor - my father threw it under the table. He crawled and picked up. To my father’s questions, I stammered and answered that I wanted to go to art school... I don’t remember exactly what face he made and what he said. Most likely, at first he said nothing, then, as usual, he heated up the samovar, poured himself some tea, and only then, with his mouth full, said: “Well, go if you want. But remember: I don't have any more money. You know. That's all I can scrape together. I won't send anything. You can't count on it."

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 accepted into the school without an exam for the third year). In 1909-1911 he continued studying with L. S. Bakst at the private art school of E. N. Zvantseva. Thanks to his Vitebsk friend Victor Mekler and Thea Brakhman, the daughter of a Vitebsk doctor who also studied in St. Petersburg, Marc Chagall entered the circle of young intelligentsia, passionate about art and poetry. Thea Brahman was educated and modern girl, several times she posed nude for Chagall. In the fall of 1909, while staying in Vitebsk, Thea introduced Marc Chagall to her friend Bertha (Bella) Rosenfeld, who at that time was studying in one of the best educational institutions for girls - Guerrier School in Moscow. This meeting turned out to be decisive in the fate of the artist. “With her, not with Thea, but with her I should be - suddenly it dawns on me! She is silent, and so am I. She looks - oh, her eyes! - Me too. It’s as if we’ve known each other for a long time, and she knows everything about me: my childhood, my current life, and what will happen to me; as if she was always watching me, was somewhere nearby, although I saw her for the first time. And I realized: this is my wife. The eyes shine on a pale face. Large, convex, black! These are my eyes, my soul. Thea instantly became a stranger and indifferent to me. I entered new house, and he became mine forever"(Marc Chagall, “My Life”). Love theme in Chagall's work is invariably associated with the image of Bella. From the canvases of all periods of his work, including the later one (after Bella’s death), her “bulging black eyes” look at us. Her features are recognizable in the faces of almost all the women he depicts.

In May 1911, Chagall went to Paris on a scholarship received from Maxim Vinaver, where he continued to study and met avant-garde artists and poets living 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 his family and see Bella. But the war began, and the return to Europe was postponed indefinitely. On July 25, 1915, Chagall's wedding to Bella took place. 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 and joined the Military-Industrial Committee. In 1916, Chagall joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and in 1917 he and his family returned to Vitebsk. After the revolution, he was appointed authorized commissioner for arts affairs of the Vitebsk province. On January 28, 1919, Chagall opened the Vitebsk Art School.

In 1920, Chagall left for Moscow and settled in the “house with lions” on 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 leadership of Alexey Granovsky. Participated in decoration theater: first he painted wall paintings for the auditoriums and lobby, and then costumes and scenery, including “Love on Stage” with a portrait “ ballet couple" In 1921, the Granovsky Theater opened with the play “The Evening of Sholom Aleichem” designed by Chagall. In 1921, Marc Chagall worked as a teacher at the Third International Jewish labor school-colony near Moscow for street children in Malakhovka.

In 1922, he and his family went first to Lithuania (his exhibition was held in Kaunas), and then to Germany. In the fall of 1923, at the invitation of Ambroise Vollard, the Chagall family left for Paris. In 1937, Chagall received French citizenship.

In 1941, the Museum management contemporary 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 came to 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.”

The relationship with Virginia McNeill-Haggard, the daughter of the former British consul in the United States, began when Chagall was 58 years old, Virginia - just over 30. They had a son, David (after one of Chagall's brothers) McNeill. In 1947, Chagall arrived with his family in France. Three years later, Virginia, having taken her son, unexpectedly ran away from him with her lover.

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

In 1960, Marc Chagall received the Erasmus Prize

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

In 1964, Chagall painted the ceiling of the Paris Grand Opera commissioned by French President Charles de Gaulle, in 1966 he created two panels for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Chicago he decorated the National Bank building with the mosaic “The Four Seasons” (1972). In 1966, Chagall moved to a house built especially for him, which also served as a workshop, located in the province of Nice - Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

In 1973, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture Soviet Union Chagall visited Leningrad and Moscow. An exhibition was organized for him in Tretyakov Gallery. The artist donated to the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum fine arts them. A. S. Pushkin's works.

In 1977, Marc Chagall was awarded France's highest award - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and in 1977-1978 an exhibition of the artist's works was organized in the Louvre, dedicated to the artist's 90th anniversary. Contrary to all the rules, 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. He was buried in the local cemetery. Until the end of his life, “Vitebsk” motifs could be 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.

1997 - the artist’s first exhibition in Belarus.

Painting of the ceiling of the Paris Opera Garnier

Lamp located in auditorium One of the Paris Opera buildings, the Opera Garnier, was painted by Marc Chagall in 1964. The order for the painting was made by the 77-year-old Chagall in 1963 by the French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux. There were many objections to having a Jew from Belarus work on a French national monument, and also to having a building of historical value painted by an artist with a non-classical style of painting.

Chagall worked on the project for about a year. As a result, approximately 200 kilograms of paint were consumed, and the canvas area occupied 220 square meters. The lampshade was attached to the ceiling at a height of more than 21 meters.

The lampshade was divided by color into five sectors by the artist: white, blue, yellow, red and green. The painting traced the main motifs of Chagall's work - musicians, dancers, lovers, angels and animals. Each of the five sectors contained the plot of one or two classical operas or ballets:

White sector - “Pelleas and Melicent”, Claude Debussy
Blue sector - “Boris Godunov”, Modest Mussorgsky; "The Magic Flute", Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Yellow sector - " Swan Lake", Pyotr Tchaikovsky; "Giselle", Charles Adam
Red sector - “Firebird”, Igor Stravinsky; Daphnis and Chloe, Maurice Ravel
Green sector - “Romeo and Juliet”, Hector Berlioz; "Tristan and Isolde", Richard Wagner

In the central circle of the ceiling, around the chandelier, characters from Bizet’s “Carmen” appear, as well as characters from operas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Giuseppe Verdi and C. W. Gluck.

The ceiling painting also decorates Parisian architectural landmarks: Triumphal Arch, Eiffel Tower, Bourbon Palace and Opera Garnier. The painted ceiling was solemnly presented to the audience on September 23, 1964. More than 2,000 people attended the opening.

Chagall's creativity

The main guiding element of Marc Chagall's work is his national Jewish sense of self, which for him is inextricably linked with his vocation. " If I were not a Jew, as I understand it, I would not be an artist or would be a completely different artist“, he formulated his position in one of the essays.

From his first teacher, Yudel Peng, Chagall received the idea of a national artist; the national temperament found expression in the peculiarities of his figurative structure. Artistic techniques Chagalls are based on the visualization of Yiddish sayings and the embodiment of images of Jewish folklore. Chagall introduces elements of Jewish interpretation even into the depiction of Christian subjects (“ Holy Family", 1910, Chagall Museum; “Dedication to Christ” / “Calvary” /, 1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York, “White Crucifix”, 1938, Chicago) - a principle to which he remained faithful until the end of his life.

Besides artistic creativity Throughout his life, Chagall published poems, journalistic essays and memoirs in Yiddish. Some of them were translated into Hebrew, Belarusian, Russian, English and French.

About M. Chagall

The film “The Age of Marc Chagall” by Oleg Lukashevich (the “Epoch” cycle talks about outstanding personalities who were born on the territory of Belarus and made a significant contribution to world culture, science, politics) was recognized as the best documentary film at the IX Eurasian Television Forum in Moscow, and was awarded a diploma and medal.
Google Doodle
Film “Chagall - Malevich” directed by A. Mitta, 2014.

Memory

In 1992, a house museum was opened in Chagall’s homeland in Vitebsk.
Airbus A321 airliner (VP-BUP) of Aeroflot airline M. Chagall."
On March 28, 2014, on the facade of the house in St. Petersburg, where Chagall and his wife Bella lived from 1915 to 1918 (Perekupnoy Lane, 7), a memorial plaque in the form of the painter’s palette was installed.
In March 2016, an embankment in Moscow was named after Chagall.
On July 6-7, 2017, the 130th anniversary of the birth of Marc Chagall was celebrated in Vitebsk.

Family

first wife - Bella Rosenfeld (12/15/1889 or 1895 - 09/2/1944)
- only daughter Ida, her father's biographer; first marriage (Michel Gordy) childless, second (art critic Franz Meyer) - three children
Virginia Haggard (not officially in a relationship) is the mother of Chagall's only son, David McNeil, a writer and musician.
second wife, since 1952 - Valentina Grigorievna Brodskaya (1905-1993).

Books and albums

Kamensky A. A. Marc Chagall and Russia. - M.: Knowledge, 1988. - 56 s.
Marc Chagall. Album / intro Art. D. V. Sarabyanova. - M.: Fine Arts, 1988. - 46 p.
Apchinskaya Natalia. Marc Chagall. Graphic arts. - M.: Soviet artist, 1990. - 224 p. - 25,000 copies.
Marc Chagall. Album / intro Art. D. V. Sarabyanov. - Ust-Ilimsk: Siberia, 1992. - 46 p.
Chagall. Return of the Master / From intro. in the words of Andrei Voznesensky. - M.: Soviet artist, 1988. - 326 p.
Chagall M.Z. Angel over the rooftops. Poetry. Prose. Articles. Performances. Letters / Comp., author. preface, commentary, trans. from Yiddish L. Berinsky. - M.: Sovremennik, 1989. - 224 p. - 50,000 copies.
Chagall M.Z. My life. - M.: Ellis Luck, 1994. - 208 p. - 50,000 copies.
Chagall M.Z. My life. - M.: Azbuka, 2000. - 416 p. - 5000 copies.
Marc Chagall. Hello, Motherland! / Tretyakov Gallery. - Scanrus, 2005. - 352 p.

Marc Chagall on art and culture / Ed. B. Kharschava. - M.: Text, 2009. - 320 p. - (Chace collection). - 3500 copies.
Alexander Kamensky. Marc Chagall. Artist from Russia. - M.: Trefoil, 2005. - 304 pp., 170 colors. ill.
Kamensky M. A. Alexander Kamensky writes about Chagall. (To the 90th anniversary of Alexander Abramovich Kamensky) // Marc Chagall and St. Petersburg: life, creativity, heritage: Materials of the international symposium. - St. Petersburg: State Publishing House. Hermitage, 2008. - pp. 97-101.

Gallery

Illustration with Chagall's dedicatory inscription

Categories:

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 involved in scenography and wrote poetry in Yiddish. One of the most famous representatives of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.

The parents married in 1886 and were each other's first cousins.

The artist’s grandfather, Dovid Yeselevich Chagall (in documents also 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 Dobromysli, Orsha district, Mogilev province, so in the “Lists of real estate owners property of the city of Vitebsk”, the artist’s father Khatskel Mordukhovich Chagall is recorded as a “dobromyslyansky tradesman”; the artist's mother came from Liozno.

Since 1890, the Chagall 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 paternal grandmother), who by that time lived in the town of Liozno, 40 km from Vitebsk.

He received a traditional Jewish education at home, studying Hebrew, 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 Pan, then moved to St. Petersburg.

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

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

In the autumn of 1909, during her stay in Vitebsk, Thea 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 turned out to be decisive in the fate of the artist. The love theme in Chagall's work is invariably associated with the image of Bella. From the canvases of all periods of his work, including the later one (after Bella’s death), her “bulging black eyes” look at us. Her features are recognizable in the faces of almost all the women he depicts.

In 1911, Chagall went to Paris with the scholarship he received, where he continued to study and met avant-garde artists and poets living 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 his family and see Bella. But the war began and the return to Europe was postponed indefinitely.

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

In 1921, the Granovsky Theater opened with the play “The Evening of Sholom Aleichem” designed by Chagall. In 1921, Marc Chagall worked as a teacher at the Third International Jewish labor school-colony near Moscow for street children in Malakhovka.

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, Chagall's family came to New York. After the end of the war, the Chagalls decided to return to France. However, on September 2, 1944, Bella died of sepsis in 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 - just over 30. They had a son, David (after one of Chagall's brothers) McNeill. In 1947, Chagall arrived with his family in France. Three years later, Virginia, having taken her son, unexpectedly ran away from him with her lover.

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

In 1960, Marc Chagall received the Erasmus Prize.

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

In 1966, Chagall moved to a house built especially for him, which also served 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. An exhibition was organized for him at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist donated to the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin's works.

Who was one of the eight children born at the end of the nineteenth century in a small town near Vitebsk into the family of a poor Jewish herring peddler to become? Probably a world celebrity. And so it happened. And if anyone hasn't guessed who yet we're talking about, know this famous artist Marc Chagall. short biography his childhood, of course, does not contain any hints of a stellar future. And yet, the name of this person is quite popular today.

The beginning of a creative journey

As a child, Chagall began studying at the Jewish primary school, and then went to the state school, where lessons were already conducted in Russian. After mastering the basics of education at school, from 1907 to 1910 he managed to study a little painting in St. Petersburg. Remarkable work early period His work is the painting “Death,” which depicts a violinist (a fairly frequently repeated image for the artist we are considering) against the backdrop of nightmarish events on stage.

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

Return to homeland

And from now on it just begins creative biography. 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 unexpectedly gained fame. 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 too long, just to have time to marry his bride Bella. However, it got stuck due to the outbreak of the First World War, since Russian borders were closed indefinitely.

But, instead of falling into despair, Marc Chagall continues to create. Married to Bella in 1915, he created such masterpieces as "The Birthday Party" and a playful acrobatic painting called "Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine." All works from this period act as witnesses to the artist's joyful state 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, it destroyed the Pale of Settlement and gave the opportunity to many representatives of this nationality to become commissars. 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 commissar for culture, and then founded and directed an art school, which became very popular.

Mark Zakharovich, together with his students, decorated the city to celebrate the first anniversary of the October Revolution. The officials were not as pleased with the decoration of the celebration as the artist himself. And when representatives of the new government began to ask the master why his cows were green and his horses flew in the sky, and most importantly, what Chagalov’s characters had in common with the great revolutionary principles and Karl Marx, the passion for 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 Marc Zakharovich Chagall start doing? His biography is still connected with Russia, and now he moves to Moscow, where he begins teaching drawing to revolution orphans in a children's colony. These were children who had repeatedly been subjected to terrible treatment at the hands of criminals, many remembered the shine of the steel blade of the knife with which their parents were stabbed to death, deafened by the whistle of bullets and the sound of broken glass.

One day, passing by the Kremlin, Mark Zakharovich saw Trotsky getting out of the car. With heavy steps he headed to his apartment. Then the artist realized how tired he was, and acutely felt that more than anything else he wanted to paint his pictures. 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 unfreedom.

New life, or Attitude to the artist’s work abroad

Marc Chagall, whose biography and work are now no longer connected with his homeland, was traveling to France - towards his immortality. In subsequent years, the phrases “genius of the century” and “patriarch of world painting” were added to his name. The French announced Mark Zakharovich as the head of the Parisian art school. At the same time, Chagall’s paintings were burned in a huge bonfire in Germany. Why did some consider his painting to be the pinnacle of modern art, while for others it prevented the realization of their “cannibalistic” plans?

He was probably struck by a sense of personal independence. He was free, like 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 flying into the air... A cow, a rooster, a horse or a donkey, several musical instruments, flowers, roofs of houses in his native Vitebsk. Marc Chagall wrote practically nothing else. The description of the paintings shows not only repeating images, but also plot lines that are practically no different from each other.

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

And yet experts and connoisseurs were amazed. Mark Zakharovich showed ordinary objects as if the viewer was seeing them for the first time. He depicted fantastic things very naturally. For simple, unsophisticated art lovers, Mark Zakharovich’s paintings are ordinary childhood dreams. They have an uncontrollable 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 larger Universe.

This man is famous all over the world

This rare moment of enlightenment lasted Mark Zakharovich for eighty years. This is exactly how much fate allowed the great artist to create. He painted hundreds of paintings. His paintings are in New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Grand Opera in Paris. His work also includes 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 the United Nations contains elements of the paintings of this most talented artist.

Creative biography. Marc Chagall and world fame

When Hitler came to power, they began to express the artist’s concern about future fate humanity. 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 his biography describes. Marc Chagall lost his wife in 1944, and, of course, this was reflected in his works. Bella appears in such artist's paintings as "Nocturne" and others: in several forms, with ghosts, in the form of an angel or a ghost bride.

Return to Paris

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

He later took on large projects in the design of the cathedral in Zurich, St. Stephen's Church in Mainz in Germany and All Saints' Church in the United Kingdom. Died greatest artist Marc Zakharovich Chagall 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, and hope for finding happiness. His immortality lies in his ability to convey the presence of the Divine spirit in every object of the surrounding world.