Marc Chagall and the Biblical Message

In 1966, Chagall donated to France the series of large paintings of the "Biblical Message", inspired by Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Songs . This series represents the synthesis of Chagall's spiritual reflection: after the trials of the Second World War, the Holocaust and exile, the painter describes a "dream" which is not "that of a single people, but of humanity".

This series of works will be exhibited at the Marc Chagall Museum on the Cimiez hill in Nice. The project was conceived entirely by the artist, with Henri Fish assisting with the garden design and André Hermant with the architecture. Visitors enter the museum as if entering a home, a place of spirituality as Chagall intended, to discover his work on the Biblical Message. He chose to illustrate, with great precision in relation to the biblical text, the episodes that highlight the relationship between humankind and God. The arrangement of the paintings on the walls does not follow the historical sequence of these episodes, as this was determined by Chagall himself.

Chagall remains an artist who cannot necessarily be classified within a specific 20th-century movement. He considers art as a state of mind, and according to him, there is an intimate link between the work and the viewer.

Numerous animals populate Marc Chagall's universe and have become emblematic of his work. Chagall rarely chose to depict animals realistically. Goats, cows, roosters, horses, donkeys, fish, and birds are transformed into fantastical creatures. For Chagall, representing animals was also a way to express his desire for harmony between humankind and nature, created by God. This magical, ethereal world often offered the artist a welcome escape from the real world.