MARC CHAGALL — Poetic Painter of Memory, Folklore & Modernism

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) was a Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin, celebrated as one of the most imaginative and lyrical painters of the 20th century. Born in Vitebsk, then part of the Russian Empire, Chagall received early training at the local art school before moving to Saint Petersburg to study under Léon Bakst and Yehuda Pen. His formative years were shaped by Russian folk art, Hasidic traditions, and the experimental modernism emerging in early 20th-century Paris. When he moved to Paris in 1910, Chagall encountered Fauvism, Cubism, and the intellectual circles of Guillaume Apollinaire and Robert Delaunay. This blend of influences helped establish the distinctive visual language that would define his oeuvre: floating figures, folkloric animals, dreamlike color, and symbolic reflections on love, faith, and memory.

Chagall’s first solo exhibition opened in Paris in 1914, earning him immediate acclaim for his visionary approach. Though World War I forced him back to Russia, his reputation grew; in 1917 he was appointed commissar of arts for the nascent Belarusian Soviet Republic and founded the Vitebsk Art School. Conflicts with the political and artistic factions of the Revolution eventually drove him back to Western Europe.

Returning to Paris in 1923, Chagall entered a vital new chapter. He developed a close relationship with the influential art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard, responsible for promoting the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Picasso, who commissioned Chagall for major printmaking projects. Chagall remained in France until the Nazi occupation, narrowly escaping to New York in 1941 with his wife, Bella. In New York he reconnected with fellow European exiles including Léger, Mondrian, and Breton, and began exhibiting at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, scaling new heights of international recognition.

By the mid-20th century, Chagall had become one of the most celebrated artists in the world. Critics, collectors, and institutions were drawn to his ability to fuse avant-garde experimentation with personal heritage and mythic imagination. He received numerous prestigious public commissions, including the monumental ceiling of the Paris Opéra, the windows for the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, and stained-glass projects for cathedrals and civic spaces around the world.

By the late 1940s and into the 1970s, Chagall exhibited widely at leading museums. The Museum of Modern Art in New York presented a major retrospective in 1946; he returned to France in 1948, where he created prolific lithographs and etchings with the publishers Tériade and Maeght. From 1967 to 1977, the Musée du Louvre hosted a historic exhibition of his work, and in 1985 the Philadelphia Museum of Art mounted an expansive retrospective. Chagall’s works now reside in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Israel Museum, and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, among others.

Working into his late years, Chagall continued painting, sculpting, and exploring stained glass until his passing in 1985 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where he is buried. His legacy endures as one of the most poetic in modern art: a fusion of memory, folklore, spirituality, and color that transformed storytelling on canvas. Chagall’s dreamlike compositions continue to influence artists, designers, and contemporary visual culture across the globe.

Explore Marc Chagall at DTR Modern Galleries

DTR Modern Galleries offers collectors access to a curated selection of Marc Chagall’s original lithographs, etchings, and works on paper across our locations in New York, Boston, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C. As one of the most internationally beloved artists of the 20th century, Chagall’s works remain highly sought after by new and seasoned collectors alike. Our galleries proudly present his vibrant, narrative-driven pieces within our broader modern and post-war collection, continuing our long-standing commitment to showcasing masterworks of Modernism alongside leading contemporary art.