Marc Chagall was one of the most important artists of the early 20th century modern art movement. Born in 1887 to a modest working-class Jewish family in Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire), Marc Chagall’s birth name was actually Moishe Shagal. The oldest of nine children, Chagall made his way to St. Petersburg as a young adult to study painting. In his early 20s he lived in Paris and became acquainted with his contemporary avant-garde artists of the day (including Picasso). Before the outbreak of WWI he returned home, got married and tried without success to work within the confines of the Marxist society now in control of Russia. After returning to Paris, Chagall was forced to flee France as anti-Semitic Germany invaded, eventually making his way to America in 1941. As an early modernist, Chagall produced artistic creations in virtually every conceivable medium of art: paintings, murals, stained glass, ceramics, illustrations, stage sets and costumes. Not only was he on the front end of the modernist movement, but Chagall is often considered one of the most important Jewish artists finding inspiration from his early beginnings in Eastern European and the Jewish culture within his native village. Pablo Picasso once remarked: “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is.â€
