Marc Zakharovich Chagall lived for almost a hundred years (1887-1985). During his long life, his style of painting changed very little, and his creative impulse never weakened for a moment. His unflagging creativity allowed him to express himself in a wide variety of art forms and disciplines. The artist worked in almost all genres. In addition to painting and book illustration, he was involved in sculpture, mosaics, stained glass, tapestries, and theater sets; he also wrote poetry in Yiddish.

Art historians describe him as a famous representative of the artistic avant-garde and an outstanding colorist of the 20th century.

"Art is first and foremost a state of mind." And his soul floated in the air. "Painting seemed to me like a window through which I could fly into another world." He claimed that he was "born between heaven and earth" and constantly found himself in this "intermediate space," understanding his existence in a special dimension: "If I were not a Jew, with all that this word means to me, I would not have been an artist at all, or I would have been a completely different artist," he wrote in one of his essays.

In 1912, Berlin collector Herwarth Walden opened the famous gallery "Der Sturm" in Berlin, where he introduced Marc Chagall's works to the German public. Just one year later, the first solo exhibition took place here, arousing the interest of art lovers and collectors in his work. The admiration for Chagall's work at the beginning of the 20th century was followed by contempt when the Nazis came to power. He was declared a "Jewish-Bolshevik" artist, and his paintings were declared "degenerate art."

Chagall was often referred to as a French artist of Jewish origin because he lived most of his life in France. Upon arriving in Paris, he began preparations for an exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1913, he presented "Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers." He depicted himself as a strange creator sitting behind an easel: behind him, through the window, you can see the Eiffel Tower and an Orthodox church, and in front of him on the easel is a piece of his Vitebsk with a cow. The phrase "seven fingers" means "jack of all trades" in Yiddish, but more often it is associated with the biblical seven days of creation. Above the artist's head are the words "Paris" and "Russia" in Yiddish. On the easel is the painting "Russia, Donkey and Others."

At the beginning of World War II, Marc Chagall and his family moved to the United States. The unexpected death of his wife Bella in America was a terrible blow to him. His grief was boundless. For 30 years, she had been his wife, his friend, and his muse, supporting him through good times and bad, sharing his triumphs and defeats. She appeared repeatedly in his paintings, which were all about love. She was also an incorruptible critic of his work. Their relationship was symbiotic; she was a part of him and also a part of his work. He writes in an almost hymnal tone:

                    "And you became my wife
                   for many years. The sweetest. You gave
                   me a daughter:
              the rarest gift of all,
              the most glorious of all days..."

Even after Bella's death, his love for her was reflected in his paintings—all the women Chagall painted continue to bear her features. And although his subsequent relationships with Virginia Haggard and Valentina Brodskaya were also happy and full of sincere feelings, his first love remained the most intense and profound.

In 1947, he returned to France and settled in the small town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence near Nice.

For Marc Chagall, work was the meaning of his life. Even at his own exhibitions, he would stay for only a few hours and then leave, as he sorely missed his studio. Until the end of his life, he was deeply convinced that the world was originally good and made for the joy of mankind.

After World War II, Chagall was particularly loved by the Germans. His art had become a symbol of reconciliation between Germans and Jews. Numerous exhibitions were dedicated to the artist, his paintings were purchased, and new collections were created. Today, millions of reproductions of his works adorn the walls of German homes, public institutions, and offices. Marc Chagall contributed to reconciliation with his works and accepted major commissions, such as the design of the foyer of the Frankfurt Opera House and, in the last years of his life, the cycle of stained glass windows in St. Stephen's Church in Mainz.

"He takes on so many commissions that he won't have time to die," a New York acquaintance once said about the elderly Chagall. He had astonishing physical strength and creative energy! In his old age, he took on commissions for the stained glass windows of Notre Dame Cathedral in Reims, a mosaic in Chicago, and painted a ceiling mural in the Grand Opera on behalf of French President Charles de Gaulle. On the master's 90th birthday, a retrospective was held at the Louvre as a great tribute and contrary to its own maxim of not exhibiting living artists.

Marc Chagall is the only artist in the world whose stained glass windows adorn places of worship of almost all denominations. Among them are synagogues, Lutheran churches, and Catholic cathedrals in America, Europe, and Israel.

His close connection to Israel can be seen in all his works. He visited the country for the first time in 1931. During his visit, he donated several works to the Tel Aviv Museum. In 1951, his first major retrospective took place in Jerusalem. He created several important art projects especially for Israel: he produced a series of stained glass windows depicting the "Twelve Tribes of Israel" for the synagogue of the Medical Center in Jerusalem and designed decorative carpets and wall mosaics for the new Knesset building.

In one of his interviews during a visit to Russia, Chagall said: "No matter what I paint, it's about love and our destiny. That's what my art is about. It's inside me, it's stronger than me."

The artist firmly believed that only love and beauty can defeat cruelty and evil. His art is bursting with this life-affirming power.