What is Surrealism?
Surrealism was a cultural movement that began around the 1920’s, which was expressed through art and literature. Surrealism developed in Europe and the movement was centred in Paris. Surrealism means above realism; this relates to how surrealism embraced unconscious desires. Surrealism relied upon nightmares, dreams and subconscious images to create a fantastic world. Surrealism often used complex symbols and artists used highly realistic painting techniques to make to painting look photographic. Surreal artworks contain juxtapositions and usually have an element of surprise.
How was Marc Chagall involved?
Marc Chagall lived in Paris at the beginning of the Cubism and Fauvism movements, which later gave rise to Surrealism. Marc embraced the freedom of the modernist movement prominent in Paris at the time and initially adopted Cubism in his paintings, e.g. The Poet (1911) but then rejected its academic aspects to produce more humorous and cheerful paintings.
Marc Chagall’s paintings used religion and Russian peasant life as inspirations, often incorporating surreal effects such as near-supernatural elements and juxtapositions. Marc’s paintings were like a dream world. Although Marc didn’t like to associate his work with a certain style, many artists considered Marc as a surrealist. André Breton (considered as the leader of the surrealist movement) said that "with him alone, the metaphor made its triumphant return to modern painting". |
Marc Chagall's Background
Marc Chagall was a Russian-French modern artist was born in Belarus in 1877 with the name Moses Zakharovich Shagal, and died in 1985 at the age of 97. Marc grew up in a Hasidic community (a branch of Orthodox Judaism) outside of Vitebsk, Russia and this upbringing influenced many of his paintings. He moved to Paris in 1910 and returned to Russia in 1917 to get married but World War I and the Russian Revolution left him trapped there. In 1923 he moved back to Paris and later fled to America during World War II to escape Jewish persecution before returning in 1947. He painted most of his famous paintings when he was in Russia and France.
Throughout his life Marc Chagall was involved in many artistic movements. Marc was involved in Surrealism, Cubism, Fauvism and Symbolism, although he never considered himself to be apart of any single movement. Like Picasso, Marc explored and mastered many artistic mediums. These include painting in both oil and gouache, watercolour, murals, ceramics, etching, drawing, theatre and costume design, and stained-glass work. Marc incorporated many of his childhood memories and religious upbringing into his famous paintings, e.g. ‘I and the Village’ (1911) and ‘The Green Violinist’ (1923-24). He tended to base his paintings on emotional and poetic associations rather than on rules of pictorial logic.
Near the end of his life he produced a stained glass ‘Peace’ (1964) for the foyer of the United Nations building and murals for the Paris Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Throughout his life Marc Chagall was involved in many artistic movements. Marc was involved in Surrealism, Cubism, Fauvism and Symbolism, although he never considered himself to be apart of any single movement. Like Picasso, Marc explored and mastered many artistic mediums. These include painting in both oil and gouache, watercolour, murals, ceramics, etching, drawing, theatre and costume design, and stained-glass work. Marc incorporated many of his childhood memories and religious upbringing into his famous paintings, e.g. ‘I and the Village’ (1911) and ‘The Green Violinist’ (1923-24). He tended to base his paintings on emotional and poetic associations rather than on rules of pictorial logic.
Near the end of his life he produced a stained glass ‘Peace’ (1964) for the foyer of the United Nations building and murals for the Paris Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.