Marc Chagall (1887, Lozno near Vitebsk – 1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence), Poster "The Fiddler," 1979

Biography
A prominent representative of the École de Paris. He studied drawing under the Vitebsk painter Juda Pen. In 1907, he began his studies at the St. Petersburg Academy. From 1910 to 1914, he was in Paris on a scholarship, where he encountered Cubism and befriended G. Apollinaire and M. Jacob. In 1915, he married Bella, who served as the muse for many of his paintings. In 1919, he was the artistic director of the State Jewish Theater in Moscow. From 1947 onward, he lived permanently in Paris. After the naïve-realist paintings of his early career, he came under the influence of Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. His paintings are dominated by cheerful romantic themes, landscapes, and religious scenes. His characteristic artistic techniques include, among others, the distortion of shapes, the disruption of proportions, and the predominance of vivid reds, blues, and greens.