Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is regarded as the poet among the artists of modernism. The life and work of the Jewish painter were profoundly affected by the art policies of the National Socialists and the Holocaust. By the early 1930s, Chagall’s works were already examining the increasingly aggressive anti-Semitism in Europe, and he finally emigrated to the United States in 1941. During these years, his art works touch on central themes such as identity, homeland, and exile.
CHAGALL. WORLD IN TURMOIL, November, 4 2022 – February, 19 2023, Marc Chagall, The Wedding Candles, 1945, oil on canvas, 123 x 120 cm, Kunsthaus Zürich, © Kunsthaus Zürich, Gift of Ernst Göhner, 1973 / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021
With more than 100 haunting paintings, works on paper, photos, and documents, the exhibition traces the artist’s search for a pictorial language in the face of expulsion and persecution. It presents important works from the 1930s, in which Chagall focused more and more on the Jewish world, numerous self-portraits, his orientation toward allegorical and Biblical themes, and the important designs in exile for the ballets Aleko (1942) and The Firebird (1945). The exhibition also addresses the artist’s recurring preoccupation with his hometown, Vitebsk, and main works such as The Falling Angel (1923/1933/1947).
Altogether, the Schirn will provide a new and highly relevant view of the oeuvre of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. An exhibition of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in cooperation with Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo.
A highlight at the end of 2022 is the exhibition CHAGALL. WORLD IN TURMOIL (November 4, 2022–February 19, 2023. With more than 100 haunting paintings, works on paper, photos, and documents, the exhibition traces the Jewish artist’s search for a pictorial language in the face of expulsion and persecution.
Titelbild: CHAGALL. WORLD IN TURMOIL, NOVEMBER, 4 2022 – FEBRUARY 19 2023, Marc Chagall, The Falling Angel, 1923-33-47, oil on canvas, 147,5 x 188,5 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel, deposit from private collection, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021, Foto: Martin P. Bühler
Text: Schirn Newsroom
