Biography

Chagall was born Moishe Shagal on July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Belarus. He died in Saint-Paul, Alpes-Maritimes, France on March 28, 1985.

Regarded as one of the father’s of surrealism, Marc Chagall became famous for his contributions to the theory and practice of art in the School of Paris. He concentrated on classical themes in his art with a twist of modernity and abstract additions that had never been done before. Born to poor Jewish parents, young Marc would entertain himself in the village that would inspire his later work. One of these works dubbed Cow and Fish Playing the Violin, although bizarre, was later regarded as pushing art back into modernity. He attended the Society for the Protection of the Arts in Russia and was therein introduced to the art of Paris where it brought back nostalgia to his early childhood village life.

Marc Chagall was able to go to Paris in order to meet those who were leading the movements of the day. He was able to show his work in the Salon des Independants and the Salon d’Automne, which won him some views from the discerning public eye. His show in Germany, however, at the Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin shot him to the top of the list of internationally famous artists and won him support from those who admired his works.

Upon returning to Russia to promote his work further, he ran into some trouble with his new “vogue” style. When he received the cold shoulder from his motherland, he returned to Paris and Berlin, never to return to Russia. During this time, he began traveling the Middle East and learning more about religion, which affected his art greatly. His work began focusing on stories from the Bible.

Chagall moved to the United States and was successful designing costumes for ballets and other theatrical performances. In the mid 1980s, he returned to France and completed one of his most famous works entitled Arabian Nights. He worked for the next few decades in not only painting, but in ceramics and other lithographic works. His works have appeared in quite prominent locations – his stained-glass work appears in the United Nations building in New York. A museum was opened in Nice in his honor and his work has appeared in the Louvre several times, most honorably in 1977 when over 60 of his paintings were on display.

For a complete biography please click here to visit the artist's page on Wikipedia.org.

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