Marc Chagall is one of the most important representatives of European modernism. At first sight his colourful compositions appear dreamlike; upon closer inspection they tell haunting stories of homeland, exile, love and loss. Marc Chagall’s pictorial worlds are as multi-faceted as they are idiosyncratic.

They were significantly influenced by three cultural circles with which the artist was closely linked: the Eastern European Judaism of his childhood and youth, the art of pre-revolutionary Russia and the modern painting of France. In his extensive oeuvre, which extends from the early 20th century to the 1980s, Chagall takes up central human subjects like love and loss, which he varies with great inventiveness over the years. The artist’s themes are based not only on personal experience, but also examine dance, drama, music and literature in depth.