Marc Chagall

• 1887 Marc Chagall is born in Vitebsk on 7 July as the eldest of nine children in a simple Jewish family
• 1906 Studies with Jehuda Pen
• 1907 Pupil of the Imperial Society for the Promotion of the Arts, St. Petersburg
• 1908 Pupil of Léon Bakst
• 1909 Meets his future wife Bella Rosenfeld
• 1910 Departs for Paris, moves into a studio there
• 1911 Participates in the “Salon des Indépendants”. Acquaintance with Apollinaire, Cendrars, Jacob, Delaunay, Léger, Modigliani and Archipenko.
• 1913 Meets Herbert Walden through Apollinaire.
• 1914 First exhibition in the gallery “Der Sturm” in Berlin. Travels to Vitebsk, where he is surprised by the war.
• 1915 Marries Bella Rosenfeld and moves with her to St. Petersburg.
• 1916 Birth of daughter Ida.
  Large exhibition in Moscow.
• 1917 Returns to Vitebsk after the October Revolution.
• 1918 Appointed art commissioner for the Vitebsk governorate, founded art academy
• 1920 Moves to Moscow
• 1921 Begins autobiography My Life
• 1922 Chagall leaves Russia. Learns the technique of etching from Hermann Struck in Berlin.
  Creates 20 etchings for My Life on commission from Paul Cassirer.
  First lithographs and woodcuts.
• 1923 Moves to Paris.
  Begins work on etchings for Gogol’s The Dead Souls commissioned by Vollard.
• 1924 First retrospective in Paris.
• 1925 Commissioned by Vollard to illustrate La Fontaine’s Fables.
  Works on the sheets for The Seven Deadly Sins.
• 1926 First exhibition in New York
• 1928 Works on the 100 etchings for the Fables (until 1930)
• 1931 Commissioned by Vollard to illustrate the Old Testament.
  Travels to Palestine for this purpose.
• 1932 Travels to Holland to study Rembrandt’s graphic work.
• 1933 Retrospective at the Kunsthalle Basel.
  Burning of his pictures in Mannheim.
• 1937 Chagall becomes a French citizen.
• 1939 Receives the Carnegie Prize.
  The outbreak of the war interrupts work on the etchings for Bible begun in
• 1931; 66 of the total of 105 plates are etched.
• 1941 Departs for the USA at the invitation of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• 1944 Death of his wife Bella
• 1945 Meets Virginia McNeil
• 1946 Birth of his son David
  First colour lithographs for Arabian Nights
• 1948 Returns to France
  Receives the International Prize for Graphic Arts at the Venice Biennale
• 1950 Acquaintance with Fernand Mourlot and Charles Sorlier.
  Begins a decade-long collaboration in the Mourlot studio.
  Moves to Vence, first ceramics.
• 1951 Second trip to Israel
• 1952 Virginia McNeil leaves Chagall.
  Marries Valentine (Vava) Brodsky.
• 1954 Begins work on the lithographs for Daphnis and Chloe.
• 1956 Bible is published by Tériade.
  17 colour lithographs for Revue Verve No. 33/34.
• 1957 Exhibition of the graphic work at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
• 1958 Stained glass window for the cathedral in Metz
• 1960 Stained glass window for the synagogue of the Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem.
  24 colour lithographs for Revue Verve no. 37/38.
• 1963 24 lithographs for The Story of the Exodus.
• 1967 The Circus is published with 24 colour lithographs.
  Exhibition at the Louvre.
• 1968 Poèmes is published by Cramer with Chagall’s only colour woodcuts.
  More stained glass windows.
• 1969 Foundation stone laid for the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, Nice.
• 1970 Retrospective of the graphic work in Paris.
  Glass windows for the Fraumünster, Zurich.
• 1973 Trip to Moscow and Leningrad.
• Exhibition of lithographs in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
• 1974 Exhibition of graphic works in Dresden and East Berlin.
• 1976 Touring exhibition in Japan
• 1977 Chagall receives the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and becomes an honorary citizen of Jerusalem
• 1978 Inauguration of the stained glass windows in St. Stephan’s, Main
• 1979 32 colour etchings for Psalms of David
• 1981 Graphic retrospective in Paris
• 1982 Exhibition of illustrated books at Patrik Cramer, Geneva
• 1984 Retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou, Paris and at the Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence
• 1985 Last colour lithograph Towards the Other Light

Marc Chagall dies on 28 March in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.