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July 7, 1887
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Born in Vitebsk, Russia, under the name Moische Segal, in the Peskovatik neighborhood. A son of Hasidic Jewish parents, the eldest in a family of nine children.
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1906-07
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Chagall enrolls first in Yehuda Pen's studio in Vitebsk and then the Imperial Society for the Protection of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg.
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1908-09
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He moves to Svanseva School, directed by artist Leon Bakst. Chagall makes the acquaintance of Bella (Berta) Rosenfeld, his future wife during his lengthy visits to Vitebsk.
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1910-13
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Leaves Saint Petersburg for Paris.Develops close friendships with the poets Blaise Cendrars and Guillaume Apollinaire. Through Apollinaire, meets Herwarth Walden, an important dealer and patron of the arts.
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1914
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First major solo exhibition at the Galerie Der Sturm in Berlin organized by Walden. Pay a visit to Vitebsk. The outbreak of World War I makes the return to Paris impossible.
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1915
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On July 25th Chagall marries Bella Rosenfeld in Vitebsk, and later they move to Saint Petersburg.
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1916-19
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Birth of his daughter Ida. Following the 1917 revolution, the family returns to Vitebsk, where Chagall is appointed Commissar of the Arts. In 1919 founds the Vitebsk Art Academy and a museum. After a quarrel with Lissitzky and Malevich, he resigns from the academy.
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1920-21
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He is invited to work at Moscow's State Jewish Chamber Theater to create three large-scale paintings for the walls of the auditorium. Towards the end of 1921, begins writing his autobiography, My Life.
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1922
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He takes up etching, under the guidance of Hermann Struck. Commissioned by Paul Cassirer to illustrate My Life in print technique.
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1923-25
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Moves with his family to Paris. Art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard, commissions the illustrations of Gogol's Dead Souls. Chagall is invited to join the Surrealists, but refuses.
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1926-30
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Family live partly in the French countryside. Vollard commissions another two series; illustrations for the Fables of La Fontaine and the Bible. The latter results in Chagall's first of eight visits to the Holy Land.
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1932-37
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Chagall's work at this time is highly diverse in terms of subject matter, partly as a result of his various travels and partly due to the political developments in Europe. In 1937, he's granted French citizenship. The Nazi regime orders German museums to remove all of Chagall's work from display.
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1941
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Upon receiving an invitation from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Chagall moves to America, bringing all of his works with him. He meets with Léger, Mondrian, Masson, Breton and Matisse.
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1944
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On September 2nd, 1944 Bella, his wife, dies suddenly of a viral infection. Overcome by grief, Chagall is unable to work for nearly ten months.
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1945
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He spends his time illustrating and working on the French translation of the first volume of Bella's memoirs, Burning Lights. Ida hires a young French-speaking Briton, Virginia McNeil, to attend to her father. Later, they become a couple and will share their lives for the next 7 years.
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1946-47
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On June 22nd Virginia gives birth to David. Retrospective exhibitions of his works are held in Paris, Amsterdam, London, Zurich and Bern.
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1948
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Definitive return to France. Tériade acquires all of Chagall's prints for Dead Souls, the Fables, and the Bible from the Vollard Foundation, and publishes Dead Souls.
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1950-51
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He enhances the Fables engravings with watercolor. Virginia leaves him.
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1952
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Chagall meets and marries the Russian-born Valentine (Vava) Brodsky. The publisher Tériade asks Chagall to illustrate Daphnis and Chloe. Tériade publishes the Fables of La Fontaine.
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1956
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Tériade publishes an edition of the Bible series. On his third trip to Israel Chagall is commissioned to design twelve stained-glass windows for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
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1958-70
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During the 1960s, he receives many commissions for stained-glass windows, murals, and tapestries from various institutions worldwide. Such as, a new ceiling for Opera Garnier in Paris, two immense murals for the Metropolitan Opera in New York and floor and wall mosaics along with three major tapestries for the Knesset, the new parliament building in Jerusalem.
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1973
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For the first time since his departure in 1922, travels to Moscow and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). During the trip, he refuses to go to Vitebsk.
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1984
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He attends the opening of the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice, France.
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March 28, 1985
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Marc Chagall dies in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.
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