How Marc Chagall escaped the Nazis, what a gypsy woman told him and other little-known facts about the artist of three confessions

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

He's sleeping. Wakes up suddenly. He begins to draw. He takes a cow and draws a cow. The church takes it and draws with it,”said the French poet Blaise Cedrard about Chagall. He was born into a poor Jewish family in modern Belarus. Watching his beloved city of Vitebsk crumbling under anti-Semitic pogroms, Chagall created magical images of his beloved city that depict a peasant way of life with longing. What are the most curious facts about the artist with flying cows and dancing violinists?

Biography

Marc Chagall was born and raised in Vitebsk, Belarus. He was the eldest of nine children. In 1941, Chagall and his family fled to the United States after Hitler's invasion of France during World War II. His works of art were extremely famous at the time and were inspired by his native Jewish culture - this posed an even greater threat to him, but did not destroy his courage and inspiration. Marc Chagall was associated with a variety of artistic styles and movements, from a deeply folk-impressionist style to his Cubitist rendition of Belarusian fables. Chagall was a central figure in modernist art, the master's paintings personified the themes of the past. Today he is known as one of the great masters of the Paris School and also a harbinger of surrealism.

Interesting facts from the life of Marc Chagall

1. Relatives opposed the artistic career of Marc Chagall

Despite the fact that he is one of the most famous artists in the world, Chagall grew up in a family for which art was forbidden. Chagall was the eldest of nine children in a Jewish Hasidic family. Given the Hasidic belief that it is sacrilege to paint and create images, it is surprising that Chagall chose an artistic career. Chagall once wrote that he had never seen a painting before his youth. When Chagall finally began to paint, his new hobby met with a considerable amount of criticism and indignation from his family, and his devout uncle even refused to communicate with his nephew. Probably the only person who supported his choice was his mother.

2. Marc Chagall is the only artist who entered two ratings of stolen works at once

Marc Chagall is one of the few whose works are especially popular among kidnappers. The global rating was compiled by the American company Art Loss Register, taking into account all the abductions of Chagall's paintings, and the Russian rating was based on the Interpol database, including paintings that are still wanted. 516 paintings by Chagall are listed as missing.

3. Despite the fact that he lived in New York for six years, he never learned English

He never actually tried to learn English, stating, "It took me thirty years to learn French badly, why should I try to learn English?" Perhaps this was also due to his strong dislike for this city. Chagall's paintings became noticeably painful and dark during his life in New York. Chagall loved Vitebsk and longed for Paris.

4. He was one of the few artists exhibited at the Louvre during his lifetime

Very few artists have managed to see their work at the Louvre. Georges Braque was the first (Still Life with Harp and Violin). Contrary to all the rules, from October 1977 to January 1978, the Louvre hosted an exhibition of works by Marc Chagall, which was timed to coincide with his 90th birthday. Although before that, according to the rules of the Louvre, works during the lifetime of the authors were not exhibited in the museum. Chagall, along with fellow artists Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Edgar Degas, began his artistic journey by copying the works of the old masters in the Louvre. And then he was lucky enough to see his work in the Louvre.

5. He was married to his beloved muse

Chagall met his muse Bella Rosenfeld in 1909 and soon married her. The couple had a unique view of the world. At the first meeting with Chagall, Bella romantically characterized the artist's eyes (blue as the sky). Bella appears in many of Chagall's paintings, and he often depicts her flying through the air, defying gravity with his love. Marc Chagall was happily married to his wife Bella for twenty-nine years until her death in 1944.

6. Vitebsk - a favorite city on the canvases of Chagall

"The soil that nourished the roots of my art was Vitebsk." Chagall sought to capture the very essence of peasant life, arguing that the city had a bizarre presence and existed mainly in his soul and dreams. Cows, sheds, chickens, horses, women, working and dancing violinists fill his works, capturing the spirit of peasant life.

7. Chagall was a banned artist in the USSR

His status as a Jew, artist and emigrant meant that Chagall was stripped of his personality. His artistic style was at odds with the socialist realism that shaped Soviet art. Chagall's works were even banned from museums, books and public places, not only because of their unconventional style, but also because they portrayed Jewish culture.

8. His magnificent murals adorned the ceiling of the Opéra Garnier in Paris

Over 200 square meters of murals by Chagall, they paid tribute to 14 important opera composers and their work. He completed his monumental work at the age of 77! Significantly, he refused to take payment for this daunting task.

9. The works of Marc Chagall are considered the best in the glorification of Hasidism

Chagall created sets and murals for the Jewish theater in Russia. It is believed that these works are the best in the glorification of Hasidism. Israel, which Chagall first visited in 1931 to open an art museum in Tel Aviv, is also filled with works by Chagall, notably 12 stained glass windows at the Hadassah hospital and wall decorations in the Knesset (Israel's legislature).

10. The famous Pablo Picasso was a friend and sometimes a rival of Chagall

Once Chagall joked: "What a genius this Picasso is, it is a pity that he does not paint." But Picasso spoke of Chagall on a more friendly note: “I don't know where he finds these images. He must have an angel in his head. " In the 1950s, Pablo Picasso also stated that "when Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only artist who understands what color really is."

11. Anna Akhmatova was an ardent fan of Marc Chagall

In 1963, Akhmatova wrote to one of her acquaintances that she had a painting by Chagall "Green Lovers". Chagall's daughter, who was visiting the poetess in Leningrad, left her a photograph of her father and asked what to send in return from Paris. The poetess asked for a pastel for a friend of the artist. A month later, acquaintances who returned from France conveyed that Chagall was interested in what kind of pastel - an early or a certain picture. I had to write an explanation that we are talking about paints. Subsequently, the poetess was sent a box of pastels.

12. Marc Chagall - artist of three confessions

Chagall became the only master of painting in the world whose works of art adorn religious buildings of almost all denominations: synagogues, temples, churches. In total, Marc Chagall's stained glass windows adorn 15 buildings around the world.

13. He was fleeing Nazi persecution

Chagall's Asylum in America was organized by Alfred Hamilton Barr Jr. (American art historian and first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York). He personally organized the inclusion of Chagall's name on the list of artists fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe. Thanks to Barr's status and efforts, Chagall and his family moved to the United States in 1941.

14. The Legend of the Gypsy Woman

There is a legend that once a gypsy woman guessed a long and eventful life to Chagall, and that he would love one extraordinary woman and two ordinary ones, and would die in flight. Indeed, Marc Chagall was married three times. On March 28, 1985, the 98-year-old artist entered the elevator to go up to the second floor of his apartment. During the ascent, his heart suddenly stopped. Thus, all the fortune teller's predictions came true.

15. His work sells for fabulous money

In 2017, Chagall's painting Les Amoureux (The Lovers) sold for a staggering $ 28.5 million at Sotheby's in New York. The painting contains two of Chagall's greatest passions - beloved Bella and Paris.

The life of Hegia is always surrounded by a veil of mystery. It was and a fulfilled prophecy in the life of Marc Chagall - three women, one of whom is extraordinary.