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Happy 130th birthday, Marc Chagall!

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Happy 130th birthday, Marc Chagall!


07.07.2017

Marc Chagall, self-portrait
Today is the 130th birthday of the Russian-born French artist Marc Chagall. He was born on July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, Belarus that at the time was a part of Russian Empire.

His father worked in a fish warehouse, and his mother ran a grocery store. After graduating from elementary school Chagall moved to St. Petersburg, where studied at the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Arts, under stage designer Leon Bakst.

Chagall moved to Paris in 1910, where he studied and then worked in a bohemian area La Ruche. After the First World War Chagall came back to Russia where he-s married his fiancée Bella. Few years after Russian Revolution they have moved back to France and then to New York to escape from Fascism. When the WW2 was over they came back to Paris for good.

Over Chagall’s decades-long career, his bright-colored works in poetic figurative style made him one of the most popular modern artists, easy capturing attention of diverse viewers.

Chagall has never completely aligned himself with any single movement but elements of Cubism, Fauvism, Symbolism and Surrealism can be seen in his works. His own style is very recognizable. His works could be found in forms of paintings, vitrages mosaic, and murals all around the world.

Artists' anniversary was celebrated in Vitebsk, Belorussia, yesterday. It was mentioned by the Marc Chagall House-Museum that his real birthday might be not 7th but the 6th of July. Chagall was sure that his family celebrated the day later because they believed in the magic of numbers.

The performance devoted to Chagall and his wife Visiting Marc and Bella was a central event of the museum celebration.

It is worth mentioning, that Chagall also wrote poetry. His poem To my City Vitebsk appeared on the city's building. It is planned that his poems in Russian, French and Yiddish will embellish several other streets of his birthplace later.

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