Paintings by the brand Shagalo with titles and descriptions. The most famous paintings of Chagall: photos with names

The personality of Marc Chagall, one of the brightest and most outstanding avant-garde artists of the 20th century, still causes a lot of controversy - he is loved and scolded, admired and misunderstood. And this is not without reason, because his works are grotesque, symbolic and extraordinary. He lived a rich creative life: he was a painter, a graphic artist, an illustrator, a poet, a master of decorative and applied arts - and everything else he was! But perhaps his main art was the art of seeing the world differently than other people. And today, everyone, looking at his paintings, can plunge into the amazing fairy-tale world of Marc Chagall.

The painting “Above the City,” painted between 1914 and 1918, is considered by many to be the most mysterious and strange in his work. Two lovers soar high in the sky above small, cozy Vitebsk. A man and a woman, having escaped from the bustle of the world, rose above the sleepy town. It is not difficult to recognize Chagall himself and his beloved Bella in this couple. The long-awaited moment of meeting after a tiring separation has arrived and now they can completely surrender to enjoying each other, forgetting about everything. Admiring them, the phrases “soar in the skies” and “fly with happiness” no longer seem so far-fetched and irrational, the boundary between dreams and reality blurs.

Symbolism and grotesquery are not only in the plot of the picture, but also in numerous details. For example, one cannot help but pay attention to the fact that lovers have one hand each - a symbol of unity, they have become one. A lonely green goat grazing, as well as a man with his pants down in the foreground, refer to the fabulousness and unreality of everything that is happening. Much attention is paid to Bella's feminine image. Her whole appearance speaks of her purity, innocence and youth: hair styled naturally, the deep calm look of her black eyes, a lace blouse and a long black skirt. She is safe, her groom holds her tightly, although his posture is light and relaxed.

However, Chagall, adhering to his style, did not draw large objects enough. The urban landscape and architecture are depicted schematically, everything seems to be covered with haze. The choice of the color scheme of the painting is also not accidental. The gray and faceless city, in contrast with the rich shades of the lovers’ clothes, tells us about the superiority of sincere feelings over boring everyday life.

But it’s not only the power of love that lifts this amazing couple off the ground, but also the power of art. All the strength and power of Chagall’s painting was combined in this picture - cubism, futurism, and true love.

Chagall's work has always been characterized by mythology and folklorism. All his paintings are filled with magic, but Chagall’s love story with Bella, his main archetype and muse, was real. He dedicated all his work to her, always consulted and listened to his beloved.

Unraveling the mystery of this painting seems impossible. Everyone will see it differently. But, undoubtedly, no one will remain indifferent. After all, it refers to something so eternal, bright and simple - true love. And everyone can feel this.

Chagall Mark Zakharovich (1887-1985) is an artist of Jewish origin who worked in Russia and France. He was engaged in painting, graphics, scenography, and was fond of writing poetry in Yiddish. He is a prominent representative of avant-garde art in the twentieth century.

Childhood and adolescence

Marc Chagall's real name is Moses. He was born on July 6, 1887 on the outskirts of the city of Vitebsk (now it is the Republic of Belarus, and at that time the Vitebsk province belonged to the Russian Empire). He was the first child in the family.

Father, Chagall Khatskel Mordukhovich (Davidovich), worked as a clerk. Mother, Feygi-Ita Mendelevna Chernina, was involved in housekeeping and raising children. Father and mother were first cousins. Mark had five more younger sisters and a brother.

Mark spent most of his childhood with his grandparents. He received his primary education, as was customary among Jews, at home. At the age of 11, Chagall became a student of the 1st Vitebsk four-year school. Since 1906, he studied painting with the Vitebsk artist Yudel Pan, who ran his own school of fine arts.

Petersburg

Mark really wanted to study further in the fine arts, he asked his father to give him money to study in St. Petersburg. He threw 27 rubles to his son, poured himself some tea and, sipping smugly, said that there were no more and he would not send him a penny again.

In St. Petersburg, Mark began studying at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, where he studied for two seasons. This school was led by the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich; Chagall was accepted into the third year without passing exams.

After the Drawing School, he continued to study painting at a private school. Two of his Vitebsk friends also studied in St. Petersburg, thanks to them Mark became included in the circle of young intellectuals, poets and artists. Chagall lived very poorly; he had to earn a living day and night by working as a retoucher.

Here in St. Petersburg, Chagall painted his first two famous paintings, “Death” and “Birth.” And Mark also had his first admirer of creativity - the then famous lawyer and State Duma deputy M. M. Vinaver. He purchased two canvases from the aspiring artist and gave him a scholarship for a trip to Europe.

Paris

So in 1911, with the scholarship he received, Mark was able to travel to Paris, where he became acquainted with the avant-garde work of European poets and artists. Chagall fell in love with this city immediately; he called Paris the second Vitebsk.

During this period, despite the brightness and uniqueness of his work, a thin thread of Picasso’s influence is felt in Mark’s paintings. Chagall's works began to be exhibited in Paris, and in 1914 his personal exhibition was to take place in Berlin. Before such a significant event in the artist’s life, Mark decided to go on vacation to Vitebsk, especially since his sister was just getting married. He went for three months, but stayed for 10 years; everything was turned upside down by the outbreak of the First World War.

Life in Russia

In 1915, Mark was an employee of the military-industrial committee of St. Petersburg. In 1916 he worked for the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. After 1917, Chagall left for Vitebsk, where he was appointed to the post of authorized commissariat for arts affairs in the Vitebsk province.

In 1919, Mark contributed to the opening of an art school in Vitebsk.

In 1920, the artist moved to Moscow, where he got a job at the Jewish Chamber Theater. He was an artistic designer, first Mark painted the walls in the lobby and auditoriums, then made sketches of stage costumes and scenery.

In 1921, he got a job at a Jewish labor school-colony for street children, which was located in Malakhovka. Mark worked there as a teacher.

All this time he did not stop creating, and from under his brush came the following world-famous canvases:

• "Me and my village";
• "Calvary";
• "Birthday";
• "Walk";
• "Above the City";
• "White Crucifix".

Life abroad

In 1922, Chagall emigrated from Russia with his wife and daughter; first they went to Lithuania, then to Germany. In 1923, the family moved to Paris, where 14 years later the artist was given French citizenship.

During World War II, at the invitation of the American Museum of Modern Art, he left for the United States away from Nazi-occupied France; he returned to Europe only in 1947.

In 1960, the artist was awarded the Erasmus Prize.

From the mid-60s, Chagall became interested in mosaics and stained glass, sculpture, tapestries, and ceramics. He painted the Jerusalem Parliament and the Paris Grand Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the National Bank in Chicago.

In 1973, Mark came to the USSR, where he visited Moscow and Leningrad, his exhibition took place at the Tretyakov Gallery, and he donated several of his works to the gallery.

In 1977, Chagall received the highest French award, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. In the year of Chagall's 90th birthday, an exhibition of his works was held at the Louvre.
Mark died in France on March 28, 1985, where he was buried in the cemetery of the Provençal town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Personal life

In 1909, in Vitebsk, Chagall's friend Thea Brakhman introduced him to her friend Bertha Rosenfeld. From the very first second of meeting him, he realized that this girl was everything to him - his eyes, his soul. He was immediately sure that this was his wife. He affectionately called her Bella, she became his one and only muse. From the day they met, the theme of love occupied a central place in Chagall’s work. Bella's features can be recognized in almost all the women depicted by the artist.

In 1915 they got married, and the following year, 1916, their baby Ida was born.

Bella was the main love in his life, after her death in 1944, he forbade everyone to talk about her in the past tense, as if she had gone out somewhere and would now return.

Chagall's second wife was Virginia McNeill-Haggard, she gave birth to the artist's son David. But in 1950 they separated.

In 1952, Mark married for the third time. His wife Vava, Valentina Brodskaya, owned a fashion salon in London.

Marc Chagall, an outstanding artist of the 20th century, was born on July 6, 1887 in Vitebsk, within the boundaries of the Pale of Settlement, which were determined by Catherine II for the compact settlement of Jews. He was the ninth child in the family.

The artist’s father Khatskel (Zakhar) Morduch worked as a loader in a herring merchant’s shop. He was a deeply religious man, quiet and kind. Feiga's mother Ita, the daughter of a butcher from Liozno, unlike her husband, was a talkative, cheerful and active woman. Chagall, in his character and creativity, combined features of both his father and mother.

Marc Chagall was born Moishe Chagall, or in Russian transcription Movsha Khatskelevich Shagalov. The family's real surname is Segal; according to Chagall’s recollections, it was changed to “Chagall” by the artist’s father. In 1906, Mark entered the I. Pan School of Drawing and Painting in Vitebsk, and at the same time worked as a retoucher in a photo studio.

In 1907, Mark left for St. Petersburg, received temporary permission to stay there and entered the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, headed by Nicholas Roerich. He worked as a tutor in a lawyer's family to earn money and as an apprentice in a sign workshop to obtain a craftsman's certificate, which gave him the right to live in the capital. In 1908, Chagall moved to the art school of E. N. Zvantseva, where he studied with L. Bakst and M. Dobuzhinsky.

In 1910, leaving for Paris for the first time, he was angry with his father:

- Listen, you have an adult son, an artist. When will you stop beating yourself up like hell at your boss? You see, I didn’t die in St. Petersburg? Do I have enough for cutlets? Well, what will happen to me in Paris?

- Leave work? - the father was indignant. - Who will feed me? Isn't it you? Well, we know.

Mom clutched her heart:

- Son, don’t forget your father and mother. Write more often. Ask for what you need.

In 1910, Chagall first participated in an exhibition of student works in the editorial office of the Apollo magazine. In the same year, thanks to member of the State Duma M. Vinaver, who bought paintings from him and assigned him a salary for the period of study, Chagall left for Paris. He rented a studio in the famous refuge of Parisian bohemia “La Ruche” (“The Beehive”), where in those years many young avant-garde artists, mostly emigrants, lived and worked: A. Modigliani, O. Zadkine, a little later - H. Soutine and others . Chagall quickly entered the circle of the Parisian literary and artistic avant-garde.

There Chagall met the avant-garde poets Blaise Center, Max Jacob and Guillaume Appolinaire, the expressionist Sotin, the colorist Delaunay and the cubist Jean Metzinger. Such a company was fertile ground for the development of any direction in art.

It was then that Chagall began to demonstrate and develop his unique artistic technique, the beginnings of which appeared back in St. Petersburg. During those four years in Paris, Chagall wrote “Me and the Village” (1911), “Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers” (1912), “The Violinist” (1912), etc. His paintings often featured discreet, pleasant-looking heroes with an oriental type of face and curly hair, in which it is easy to recognize the author.

In 1911-13 his works were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, and at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin.

In addition, Chagall took part in exhibitions of art associations in Russia. In 1914, with the assistance of G. Apollinaire, the first personal exhibition of Chagall was held at the Der Sturm gallery. After its opening, Chagall left for Vitebsk; Due to the outbreak of the First World War, he was unable, as expected, to return to Paris and remained in Russia until 1922.

In 1915, Chagall married Bella Rosenfeld, the daughter of a famous Vitebsk jeweler, who played a huge role in his life and work; Chagall himself considered her his muse. Bella also became a frequent heroine of his paintings, such as “Double Portrait with a Glass of Wine” (1917) and “Birthday” (1915-1923).

Bella’s mother was extremely dissatisfied with her daughter’s choice: “You will be lost with him, daughter, you will be lost for nothing. Artist! Where is this good? What will people say?

Bella and Mark spent their honeymoon in rural paradise. “At noon our room looked like a magnificent panel - you could even display it in Paris now.” Then the First World War broke out. Chagall's passport was taken away and he was put as a clerk in some military office.

“The Germans won their first victories. Choking gases reached me even at work, on Liteiny Prospekt. Painting has died out." Having learned that a pogrom was going on somewhere in the center, Chagall ran there. He had to see it with his own eyes.

“Suddenly, from around the corner, right in front of me, thugs appear - four or five, armed to the teeth. - Jew? - I hesitated for a second, no more. It’s night, I have nothing to pay off with, I can’t fight back or escape. My death would be meaningless. I wanted to live...” He was released. Without wasting time, he ran further to the center. And I saw everything: how they were shooting, how they were robbing, how they were throwing people into the river. “And then,” he writes, “ice moved over Russia. Madame Kerensky fled. Lenin made a speech from the balcony. The distances are gaping. Huge and empty. There is no bread."

He and Bella had a daughter, Idochka. There was nothing to eat. For several years they rushed between Vitebsk, Petrograd and Moscow. Everything was taken away from the wife's parents. They took my mother-in-law. Mom died. My father was run over by a truck. My wife exchanged the last rings for a piece of butter.

He was offered to teach in a children's colony named after the Third International. There were about fifty orphans there. “They were all street children, beaten by criminals, who remembered the shine of the knife with which their parents were stabbed, who never forgot the dying groans of their father and mother. Before their eyes, the bellies of raped sisters were ripped open. And so I taught them how to draw. How greedily they drew! They pounced on the paints like animals on meat. Barefoot, they shouted with each other: “Comrade Chagall! Comrade Chagall! Only their eyes didn’t smile at all: they didn’t want to or couldn’t.”

Chagall maintained relations with artists and poets who lived in Petrograd, participated in exhibitions (“Jack of Diamonds”, 1916, Moscow; “Spring Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Painting”, 1916, St. Petersburg; “Exhibition of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts”, 1916, Moscow, and others ).

In 1917, Chagall again left for Vitebsk. Like many other artists, he enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution, and was actively involved in organizing the new cultural life of Russia. In 1918, Chagall became the commissar of arts of the provincial department of Naroobraz of Vitebsk and in the same year developed a project for a grandiose festive decoration of the streets and squares of Vitebsk in connection with the anniversary of the October Revolution. At the beginning of 1919, he organized and headed the Vitebsk People's Art School, where he invited I. Pan, M. Dobuzhinsky, I. Puni, E. Lisitsky, K. Malevich and other artists as teachers.

However, fundamental disagreements soon arose between him and Malevich regarding the tasks of art and teaching methods. Malevich believed that Chagall was not “revolutionary” enough. These disagreements grew into open conflict, and at the beginning of 1920, Chagall left school and went to Moscow with his wife and daughter, where, before leaving for the West in 1922, he worked at the Jewish Chamber Theater, whose director was A. Granovsky. Over the years, Chagall designed the play “The Evening of Shalom Aleichem” based on his one-act plays “Agentn” (“Agents”), “Mazltov!” (“Congratulations!”) and created several picturesque panels for the theater foyer. Chagall also collaborated with the Habima Theater, which at that time was headed by E. Vakhtangov.

In 1921, Chagall taught painting at the Jewish orphanage-colony for street children named after the Third International in Malakhovka, not far from Moscow. He continued to participate in exhibitions in 1921-22. took an active part in artistic life - he was a member of the Art Section of the Cultural League in Moscow (a joint exhibition with N. Alterman and D. Shterenberg, organized by the section, took place in the spring of 1922 in Moscow). Two personal exhibitions of Chagall also took place (1919, Petrograd and 1921, Moscow).

In 1922, Chagall finally decided to leave Russia and went first to Kaunas to organize his exhibition, and then to Berlin, where, at the request of the publisher P. Cassirer, he completed a series of etchings and engravings for the autobiographical book “My Life” (an album of engravings without text was published in Berlin in 1923; the first edition of the text “My Life” appeared in Yiddish in the magazine “Tsukunft”, March-June 1925; the text of the book “My Life”, illustrated with early drawings, was published in Paris in 1931 in Russian; French, M., 1994).

At the end of 1923, Chagall settled in Paris, where he met many avant-garde poets and artists - P. Eluard, A. Malraux, M. Ernst, as well as A. Vollard, a philanthropist and publisher, who ordered him illustrations, including Bible.

Starting to work on biblical drawings, Chagall went to the Middle East in 1931. At the invitation of M. Dizengoff, Chagall visited Eretz Israel; During the trip, he worked a lot and wrote a significant number of sketches of “biblical” landscapes. Then he visited Egypt. In 1924 he participated in the almanac “Halyastra”, published by P. Markish.

In the 1920-30s. Chagall traveled in connection with personal exhibitions (1922, Berlin; 1924, Brussels and Paris; 1926, New York; 1930s, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Prague and others), and also studied classical art. In 1933, his retrospective exhibition was opened in Basel. In the same year, in Mannheim, on the orders of Goebbels, a public burning of Chagall’s works was organized, and in 1937-39. his works were exhibited at “Degenerate Art” exhibitions in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities.

In 1937, Chagall took French citizenship. At the beginning of World War II, due to the occupation of France, Chagall and his family left Paris for the south of the country; in June 1941, the day after Germany attacked the Soviet Union, he moved to New York at the invitation of the Museum of Modern Art.

Many personal and retrospective exhibitions of Chagall were held in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. In 1942, Chagall designed the ballet “Aleko” to the music of P. Tchaikovsky in Mexico City, and in 1945, “The Firebird” by I. Stravinsky at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Chagall's wife Bella died in 1944. For a long time Marc Chagall could not bring himself to pick up a brush; all the work he had started in the workshop was placed facing the wall. Only after a year of silence did Chagall return to work.

After the end of the war, in 1947, Marc Chagall returned to France and settled in the Villa “Hill” near the city of Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the Cote d'Azur of the Mediterranean Sea.

Bella's memoirs, Burning Candles, with illustrations by Chagall, were published posthumously in 1946. In the same year, a retrospective exhibition of Chagall took place in New York, and in 1947, for the first time after the war, in Paris; it was followed by exhibitions in Amsterdam, London and other European cities. In 1948, Chagall returned to France and settled near Paris. In 1952 he married Valentina Brodskaya. In 1948, at the 24th Venice Biennale, Chagall was awarded the Grand Prix for his engraving.

In 1951, Chagall visited Israel in connection with the opening of his retrospective exhibition at the museum at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem, and also visited Tel Aviv and Haifa. In 1977, Chagall was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Jerusalem.

Since the 1950s Chagall worked primarily as a muralist and graphic artist. In 1950 he began working in ceramics, in 1951 he made his first sculptural works, from 1957 he worked on stained glass, and from 1964 on mosaics and tapestries. Chagall created frescoes for the foyer of the Watergate Theater in London (1949), the ceramic panel “Crossing the Red Sea” and stained glass for the church in Assy (1957), stained glass for the cathedrals in Metz, Reims and Zurich (1958-60), stained glass “ The Twelve Tribes of Israel" for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem (1960-62), the ceiling at the Grand Opera in Paris (1964), mosaic panels for the UN building (1964) and the Metropolitan Opera (1966) in New York, and others.

In 1967, the Louvre hosted an exhibition of Chagall’s works, united in the cycle “Biblical Images”. In 1973, the National Museum “Biblical Images of Marc Chagall”, founded in 1969, was opened in Nice. Also in 1973, Chagall visited Russia (Leningrad and Moscow) for the first time after emigration, where an exhibition of his lithographs was opened for the artist’s arrival, and wall panels made in 1920 for the foyer of the Jewish Chamber Theater and considered lost were also removed from storage and restored. . Chagall confirmed the authenticity of the panels by signing them. Since the 1950s The largest galleries and exhibition halls in the world hosted exhibitions of Chagall's works, retrospective or dedicated to a particular topic or genre. Chagall's works are in the largest museums in the world.

Chagall's pictorial system was formed under the influence of various factors, paradoxically, but organically rethought and forming a single whole. In addition to Russian art (including icon painting and primitive art) and French art of the early 20th century, one of the defining elements of this system is Chagall’s 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 his essays. From his first teacher I. Peng, Chagall adopted the idea of ​​a national artist; the national temperament found expression in the peculiarities of his figurative structure. In Chagall's first independent works, the visionary nature of his work is clearly manifested: reality, transformed by the artist's imagination, acquires the features of a fantastic vision. However, all surreal images - violinists on the roof, green cows, heads separated from their bodies, people flying in the sky - are not the arbitrariness of unbridled imagination, they contain a clear logic, a specific “message”. Chagall's artistic techniques 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 (The Holy Family, 1910, Chagall Museum; Homage to Christ / Calvary /, 1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York) - a principle to which he remained faithful to the end life.

In the first years of his creative work, the setting of his works is Vitebsk - a street, a square, a house (“The Dead”, 1908, Center Pompidou, Paris). During this period, the landscapes of Vitebsk and scenes from the life of the community contain features of the grotesque. They are reminiscent of theatrical mise-en-scenes, subordinated to a precisely calibrated rhythm. The color scheme of early works is mainly based on green and brown tones with the presence of purple; the format of the paintings approaches a square (“Shabbat”, 1910, Museum Ludwig, Cologne).

The first period of his stay in Paris (1910-14) played an important role in Chagall’s work: the artist came into contact with new artistic movements, of which cubism and futurism had a direct influence on him; to an even greater extent we can talk about the influence of the atmosphere of artistic Paris of those years. It was during these years and in the “Russian period” that followed that the basic principles of Chagall’s art were formed, running through all of his work, and constant symbolic types and characters were determined. There are few purely cubist or purely futuristic works by Chagall, although they can be found throughout the 1910s. (“Adam and Eve”, 1912, Art Museum, St. Louis, USA). Chagall's style of this time can be defined rather as cubo-futurist, which was one of the important trends in avant-garde art in Russia. Sharp ratios of yellow, red, blue, green and violet form the basis of Chagall's color scheme; they are often combined with black, sometimes making up the background.

The subsequent “Russian period” (1914-22) was a time of generalization of accumulated experience. Chagall's themes and style are varied - from sketches of Vitebsk and portraits of loved ones to symbolic compositions ("Mother on the Sofa", 1914, private collection; "Reclining Poet", 1915, Tate Gallery, London; "Above the City", 1914-18, Tretyakov Gallery , Moscow); from searches in the field of spatial forms (“Cubist Landscape”, 1918; “Collage”, 1921, both - Center Pompidou, Paris) to works where the main role is played by the symbolism of color, in which the influence of the Jewish tradition and impressions of works of ancient Russian art is felt ( “Jew in Red”, 1916, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The avant-garde orientation was especially clearly manifested in the graphics of those years (“Movement”, 1921, ink, Center Pompidou, Paris) and in works related to the theater: in the panel “Jewish Theater” (1920, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) complex symbolism was developed, including elements of Jewish tradition, encrypted comments on theatrical behind-the-scenes events, Chagall’s declaration on the tasks of the Jewish theater.

The first years after returning to Paris were the calmest in Chagall's life and work. It seemed that the artist was summing up his life; He, in particular, worked on an illustrated autobiographical book.

Almost until the end of the 1920s. Chagall worked mainly in graphics - book illustrations for “Dead Souls” by N. Gogol (1923-27, published in 1948) and “Fables” by J. Lafontaine (1926-30, published in 1952).

During these years, Chagall continued to paint and wrote many sketches from nature (“Ida at the Window”, 1924, City Museum, Amsterdam). His palette brightened and became more variegated, his compositions abounded in detail. Chagall returned to his old works, creating variations on their themes (“Reader”, 1923-26, Kunstmuseum, Basel; “Birthday”, 1923, S. Guggenheim Museum, New York).

In 1931, Chagall, commissioned by A. Vollard, created 39 gouaches - illustrations for the Bible, in which changes in the figurative structure are clearly visible: Chagall abandoned reminiscences of the “shtetl” theme (see Shtetl), his landscapes are monumental, and the images of patriarchs evoke portraits Rembrandt's elders.

At the end of the 1930s. the feeling of the impending Catastrophe found expression in “Crucifixions” (“White Crucifixion”, 1938, Art Institute, Chicago; “Martyr”, 1940, family collection). The composition and color scheme of these works goes back to the Russian icon, but Jesus is depicted in a tallit, and all the attributes of the picture are associated with Judaism (Torah scrolls, menorah); the landscape and characters return the viewer to Vitebsk and the Hasidim.

Religious themes predominate in Chagall's late work. Made in the 1950-60s. The 17 large canvases included in the “Biblical Images” cycle were partly based on Chagall’s earlier works (“Paradise”, “Abraham and the Three Angels”, “Song of Songs”, all from the Chagall Biblical Images Museum, Nice). Chagall's paintings of the late period, associated with biblical themes, are characterized by expression and tragedy (Moses Breaking the Tablets, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne).

Chagall’s monumental works, both on religious themes and dedicated to the theater, are stylistically close to “Biblical Images,” but the specificity of the technique—the luminosity of stained glass windows, the dull shimmer of mosaics, the deep tones of carpets—gave the artist additional opportunities. In addition, symbolism, which always played a large role in Chagall’s works, was especially carefully thought out in the artist’s monumental works on religious themes. Thus, the very arrangement of stained glass windows in the Hadassah synagogue - four groups of three stained glass windows each - is dictated by the location of the twelve tribes of Israel around the Tabernacle of the Covenant at a rest stop in the Sinai desert, and the colors used in the stained glass windows are determined by the colors of the 12 stones (according to the number of tribes) that decorated the clothes high priest.

Painting by Chagall 1970-80s. also includes lyrical works that return the artist to the past - to the image of the town, to memories of loved ones (“Rest”, 1975; “Bride with a Bouquet”, 1977, both - P. Matisse Gallery, New York). Made in oil, they resemble pastels - blurred contours, a multi-colored haze create a feeling of a ghostly vision-mirage.

In 1964, Chagall designed the glass facade of the UN building in New York and the new interior design of the Paris Opera, and two years later he completed work on the frescoes at the New York Metropolitan Opera. In 1967, he participated as an artist in the production of Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1973, the Marc Chagall Museum opened in Nice, and in 1977, a personal exhibition of the artist’s works appeared in the Louvre.

Throughout his life, Chagall wrote poetry, first in Yiddish and Russian, and then in French. Chagall's lyrics are permeated with Jewish motifs; in it one can find responses to the tragic events of Jewish history - for example, the poem “In Memory of Jewish Artists - Victims of the Holocaust.” Many of Chagall's poems are a kind of key to understanding his painting. (A selection of Chagall’s poems - translated from Yiddish and written in Russian - was published in the collection M. Chagall. “Angel over the roofs. Poems, prose, articles, letters”, M., 1989).

The work of Marc Chagall, whose paintings include massive bouquets, melancholic clowns, lovers soaring in the clouds, mythical animals, biblical prophets, and even violinists on the roof, has become a landmark stage in the development of world art.

Chagall lived a long life: almost a hundred years. He witnessed terrible events, but the madness of the 20th century did not prevent the artist from perceiving the world with the bright sadness of a true sage.

Marc Chagall lived until the end of his life on the French Riviera.

He said about himself: “I lived my life in anticipation of a miracle.”

Only that country is mine - what is in my heart.
To which as if it were your own, without any visas or visas,
I'm coming in. My sadness and bitterness are visible to her.
She, my country, will put me to bed,
She will cover me with a fragrant stone.
I think now even if I go backwards -
I'll still go ahead, There,
To the high-altitude, mountain Gates.

What kind of death did the gypsy predict for the artist and in what “thieves’” rating does Chagall lead?

Vitebsk fans of Chagall’s work brought flowers on the day of the 30th anniversary of his death (2015). Photo by Anastasia Veresk

On March 28, 1985, Marc Chagall, a stained glass artist, decorator, sculptor, graphic artist, one of the most prominent representatives of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century, author of more than ten thousand works of fine art, died. The artist lived a long life, full of not only exciting emotions, but also witnessed monstrous events of world significance - brutal revolutions and two world wars.

On his 31st anniversary, we have collected for you some interesting facts about his life.

Self-portrait with seven fingers. source avangardism.ru

Fact #1

The eldest of 10 children of clerk Khatskel Chagall, Moishe Chagall, was born on July 7, 1887 on the outskirts of Vitebsk. When he was born, a huge fire was raging in the city, and the bed in which the mother and baby lay was constantly being moved from place to place to save them. Therefore, throughout his life, the artist experienced and depicted the fire that spared him in the form of a rooster.

Fact #2

He received a traditional Jewish education at home: he studied Hebrew, the Torah and the Talmud. When he was in a bad mood, he would draw biblical scenes or flowers. However, the latter sold much better, which greatly disappointed Chagall.

Yellow crucifix. Photo avangardism.ru

Fact #3

Chagall became the only artist in the world whose stained glass windows decorated religious buildings of several faiths: synagogues, Lutheran churches - a total of 15 buildings in the USA, Europe and Israel.

Fact #4

The only painter who was included in the ranking of artists whose works are most popular among the Demand for his works in the world criminal arena is second only to Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro in popularity - more than half a thousand Chagall paintings are listed as missing.

A fragment of Marc Chagall's work "Paisane", stolen 6 years ago and discovered in Los Angeles. Photo dailymail.co.uk

Fact #5

A number of European and global insignia received by the master throughout his life were crowned in 1977 with the highest award of France - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. In October 1977 - January 1978, the Louvre, in derogation from the rules, held an exhibition in honor of the living Chagall (on the occasion of his 90th birthday).

Fact #6

There is a legend that once Chagall, that he would live a long and incredibly rich life, would love one or two ordinary people and die in flight. And the prediction came true - on March 28, 1985, 98-year-old Chagall got into the elevator to go up to the second floor in his house in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. During the ascent, his heart stopped.

Chagall Mark Zakharovich (real patronymic Khatskelevich) (Chagall Marc), graphic artist, painter, theater artist, illustrator, master of monumental and applied arts; a native of Russia. One of the leaders of the world avant-garde of the 20th century, Chagall managed to organically combine the ancient traditions of Jewish culture with cutting-edge innovation. Born in Vitebsk on June 24 (July 6), 1887. Received traditional religious education at home (Hebrew, reading the Torah and Talmud). In 1906 he came to St. Petersburg, where in 1906–1909 he attended the drawing school at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, the studio of S.M. Zaidenberg and the school of E.N. Zvantseva. He lived in St. Petersburg-Petrograd, Vitebsk and Moscow, and in Paris from 1910–1914. All of Chagall's work is initially autobiographical and lyrically confessional. Already in his early paintings, themes of childhood, family, death, deeply personal and at the same time “eternal” dominate (Saturday, 1910, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). Over time, the theme of the artist’s passionate love for his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld (Above the City, 1914–1918, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) comes to the fore. Characteristic are the motifs of the “shtetl” landscape and life, coupled with the symbolism of Judaism (Gate of the Jewish Cemetery, 1917, private collection, Paris).

However, looking at the archaic, including the Russian icon and popular print (which had a great influence on him), Chagall joins futurism and predicts future avant-garde movements. Grotesque and illogical subjects, sharp deformations and surreal-fairy-tale color contrasts of his paintings (I and the Village, 1911, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers, 1911–1912, City Museum, Amsterdam) have a great influence on the development of surrealism .

After the October Revolution in 1918–1919, Chagall served as a commissar of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the provincial department of public education in Vitebsk, and decorated the city for revolutionary holidays. In Moscow, Chagall painted a series of large wall panels for the Jewish Chamber Theater, thereby taking the first significant step towards monumental art. Having left for Berlin in 1922, from 1923 he lived in France, Paris or the south of the country, temporarily leaving it in 1941–1947 (he spent these years in New York). He traveled to different countries in Europe and the Mediterranean, and visited Israel more than once. Having mastered various engraving techniques, at the request of Ambroise Vollard, Chagall created in 1923–1930 the most expressive illustrations for the Dead Souls of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and the Fables of J. de La Fontaine. By the middle of the 20th century, his authority as an artist - painter, graphic artist, master of theatrical art, as well as decorative ceramics (which he worked with since 1950) - received worldwide recognition.

As he reaches the peak of fame, his style - generally surreal and expressionistic - becomes easier and more relaxed. Not only the main characters, but also all the elements of the image float, forming constellations of colored visions. Through the recurring themes of Vitebsk childhood, love, and circus performances, dark echoes of past and future world catastrophes float in (Time Has No Coasts, 1930–1939, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Since 1955, work began on Chagall's Bible - this is the name for a huge cycle of paintings that reveal the world of the ancestors of the Jewish people in a surprisingly emotional and bright, naively wise form. In line with this cycle, the master created a large number of monumental sketches, compositions based on which decorated sacred buildings of different religions - both Judaism and Christianity in its Catholic and Protestant varieties: ceramic panels and stained glass windows of the chapel in Assy (Savoy) and the cathedral in Metz, 1957 –1958; stained glass windows: synagogues of the medical faculty of the Hebrew University near Jerusalem, 1961; Cathedral (Fraumünster Church) in Zurich, 1969–1970; Cathedral in Reims, 1974; St. Stephen's Church in Mainz, 1976–1981; etc.). These works of Marc Chagall radically updated the language of modern monumental art, enriching it with powerful colorful lyricism.

In 1973, Chagall visited Moscow and St. Petersburg in connection with an exhibition of his works at the Tretyakov Gallery. Chagall died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (Alpes-Maritimes, France) on March 28, 1985.