Marc Chagall is unique in many ways. The avant-garde artist, who did not recognize proportions, the rules of composition and chiaroscuro, is considered a French and Russian artist, but his origin is Jewish-Belarusian.
Marc Chagall's canvases are difficult to fit into the framework of painting, if you look at them with a look devoid of imagery. He was generally recognized as a genius, but most of his work is admired, repulsive and intimidating at the same time. Chagall stood out sharply even from his avant-garde colleagues by the complete absence of visual logic in his paintings, by working on instinct, nerves, feelings and nothing more.
Who is Marc Chagall - biography
Marc Chagall (Movsha Khatskelevich) is a native of the Belarusian city of Vitebsk. His date of birth is July 6, 1887. It was during that time and historical period that Empress Catherine II ordered to resettle all Jews, including the Khatskevich family, to the Vitebsk volost.
The mother dominated the family - strong, active and domineering. Marc Chagall's father was a quiet, devout and downtrodden man, he worked as a simple loader at a herring shop. The boy was always burdened by such a life, he was ashamed of his origin, and at the first opportunity he retired to draw.
His hobby was not approved by his parents, and after the parish school they sent their son to study accounting. But his insistent persuasion still forced his mother to give him money for the drawing school of the famous painter Yudel Pen at that time.
The works of Marc Chagall surprised and annoyed his teacher, he considered the boy an incapable and useless student. But Mark thought differently, and already at the age of 15 he considered himself a genius who could turn the world of painting upside down. Which, however, he did many years later, escaping from his home in St. Petersburg.
Personal life of Marc Chagall
The personal life of Marc Chagall was devoid of bright colors, like most of his paintings, but there were enough events in it. For example, there were three wives in it:
- Bella Rosenfeld,
- Virginia Haggard,
- Valentina Brodskaya.
The first name - Bella Rosenfeld - is associated with a pleasant period in Chagall's life. They were married, their daughter Ida was born, they lived quietly and happily. But in 1944 Bella passed away, and Mark declared "creative mourning." To get him out of the state of apathy, the daughter hired a nurse - Virginia.
Chagall's romance with Virginia Haggard gave him a son, David, and bitterness from the betrayal of his chosen one. She chose Marc over the more successful artist and photographer Charles Leirens. Virginia limited her son's communication with his father, refused gifts and material assistance from him, which again plunged Chagall into depression.
The third, or rather the second, wife was again brought to Mark by her daughter, and later she bitterly regretted it. Having formalized the relationship, Valentina stopped letting both children and grandchildren to her husband, turned his creative world upside down, insisting on the "production" of popular paintings with bouquets and still lifes, as they brought more money.
Historians and art critics believe that Marc Chagall repeated the fate of his father - he ended his life "under the thumb", but still left behind unique paintings that not everyone can understand.
