Henie Onstad Kunstsenter: Marc Chagall, “World in Turmoil”

Marc Chagall is one of the most famous of Europe’s early modernist artists. He distinguished himself in many areas: as a painter, graphic artist, stage set designer and producer of decorative arts and crafts. The works of this multi-talented Jewish artist are often described as poetic, dreamlike and fantastical. Despite all the fantastical elements in his pictures, Chagall’s art is always closely linked to his own personal experiences. This is particularly noticeable in the works he produced in the 1930s and 1940s, including those on display in this exhibition.

The life and works of Marc Chagall were deeply influenced by the Nazis’ attitude to art, and the Holocaust. In the early 1930s, his works explored the increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism in Europe. In 1941, he was smuggled out of France and sought refuge in the USA. During these years, his works touch on important contemporary themes, such as identity, homeland and exile.

The exhibition comprises over 50 paintings and works on paper. It presents important works from the 1930s, a period when Chagall focused more and more on the Jewish world and turned towards allegorical and biblical themes. The exhibition also addresses the feeling of loss and the nostalgia he felt for his home town, Vitebsk, now in present-day Belarus.

This exhibition also gives the public a unique opportunity to experience Chagall as a costume designer, through eight of the costumes he designed for the ballet “Aleko” (1942) while he was living in exile in the USA.

The exhibition is organised by Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in cooperation with Henie Onstad Kunstsenter.

The exhibition’s works have been lent by a number of international museums, as well as public and private art collections, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris; Moderna Museet in Stockholm; Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice; Estate Ida Chagall/Michel Brodsky, Paris/Basel; Sprengel Museum Hannover; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; and the Tate Modern in London.