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.