Chagall

Artists

Marc Chagall

Press release

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is one of the most fascinating artists of modernism. The exhibition at the K20 of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, organized in cooperation with the Albertina in Vienna, is a monographic exhibition on the work of the Russian-French painter. Chagall grew up in the small town of Vitebsk (in present-day Belarus) as the eldest child of an Orthodox Jewish family and reflected on his origins throughout his life. His paintings tell of everyday life and customs, but also of exclusion and pogroms. They deal with the trauma of persecution, but also with the dream of a better life.

His fantastic and poetic imagery is characterized by bright, intense colors and motifs that remain enigmatic to this day. On the fortieth anniversary of the painter’s death, the exhibition brings together some 120 works from all phases of his career. One focus is on the early works created between 1910 and 1923. As a young artist in Paris, Chagall experimented with Fauvism and Cubism, combining the new stylistic tendencies with Jewish motifs and Russian folklore. This was unique in his time and made him the “wunderkind of modernism.” The exhibition reveals not only the painterly influences on Chagall’s early work. The lesser known dark and socially critical side of the artist, which has not lost its relevance to this day, can also be discovered.

The exhibition is a cooperation between the ALBERTINA, Vienna, and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf.