Marc Chagall

Russian-French artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985) created a visual language combining Jewish folklore, dream imagery, and brilliant color that remained unique across his seven-decade career. Born in Vitebsk (now Belarus) to a devoutly Jewish family, he studied briefly in St. Petersburg before moving to Paris in 1910, absorbing Cubism, Fauvism, and Surrealism without fully belonging to any movement. His floating lovers, fiddlers on roofs, and village scenes drew from childhood memories while embracing modernist freedom. Pablo Picasso reportedly said, "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is."

Chagall's work spans painting, stained glass, tapestry, ceramics, and theater design. In 1960, he began creating stained glass windows for the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, followed by commissions for Reims and Metz cathedrals and the Fraumünster in Zürich. His 1964 ceiling for the Paris Opera caused controversy for placing a Russian Jewish artist's work in a French monument, but the colorful tribute to composers became beloved. The Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective in 1946, and he received France's Legion of Honor grand medal in 1977. In Nice, the Musée National Marc Chagall houses his Biblical Message paintings. Works also hang at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago (which holds his America Windows), and the Tate Modern. He died in 1985 at age 97, still working on paintings and mosaics.