Birth Story:

Marc Chagall was born on July 7, 1887 in a tiny Russian town. Although it was controversial throughout his life time as to whether his birth year was 1887 or 1889, Chagall eventually acknowledged that it was 1887. His birth was during a war and a fire was raging through his village on the night his mother gave birth. Chagall often spoke of how his mother used to tell him the story of his birth. Chagall was a sickly baby and his mother feared that he wouldn’t live through the night. She placed him in a feeding trough and stayed with him until morning. As the sun came up and the fire died down, baby Chagall began to breathe at a normal pace and his mother knew that he would be alright. When he was born, Chagall was named Moshe Segal, but later on he went by the French Marc Chagall. As a little boy, Chagall noted that he would roam the streets of his village and think about colors and shapes of things. One of his most vivid memories was that of his grandfather sitting on the roof of his house in order to see the town in a different light. It was influences such as this that drove Marc to want to paint what he saw.

Family Life:

Chagall was raised in a Jewish household. His father was very traditional and wanted his son to follow his footsteps. Chagall’s father rose early in the morning to pray and the temple, and then hauled barrels of herring at a factory. He was strongly against his son being an artist. Chagall’s family, being Jewish, thought that making images was a sin and so his father became especially embarrassed of his son’s interest in art.  His mother however, wanted her son to be happy and so when Chagall was in his late teens, she sent him to art school.

Education:

Young Chagall was not very academically inclined. He forgot his heder lessons, and failed all of his subjects in high school except for geometry and drawing. Once he was enrolled in art school, Chagall started breaking the rules there as well. He never drew what the teacher instructed him to draw. Instead he began drawing floating objects and townspeople. Chagall took more art lessons in St. Petersburg. He had no money so he would stay in people’s open rooms and even the occasional staircase. Soon enough, Chagall decided that he could learn nothing else from art teachers and decided to move to France and paint.