Marc Chagall in Zagreb

After a series of successful exhibitions which have managed to draw a record numbers of visitors and restore to its former glory the Museum Area in the Upper Town, the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery has prepared another treat for the Yuletide festivities – an exhibition of works by Marc Chagall, one of the greatest painters of the 20th century.

The Zagreb exhibition of master painter Marc Chagall, which will be open from 13 December 2007 to 16 March 2008, will occupy twelve rooms in the gallery and feature approximately 250 of his best oil paintings, prints, illustrations, drawings, lithographs, collages, sculptures and textiles. Chagall, probably the greatest dreamer among painters, was born in Russia, a country of long and splendid tradition. He is famous for depicting the feelings of sorrow and longing of an emigrant mourning for the country he had left, the delicately styled images of two levitating lovers, the mystical world of animals, musicians, clowns and fantastic creatures floating in mid-air and populating the surreal world. The way he painted makes one believe that there was no boundary between the artist and his canvass, and the paintings themselves convey the image of a cerebral map depicting ideas of love, fragrance, white flowers and musicians. 

He wrote the almost century-long history in his own unique penmanship, amalgamating in his painting his Jewish origins, the landscapes of Vitebsk where he was born, and Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and New York, where he resided. He assimilated and instigated at the same time the avant-garde movements in various artistic capitals of the world of the time, but he never truly and completely belonged to any one movement and thus he has forever remained a unique phenomenon of 20th century art. Thus, it is no wonder that even to this day his paintings exist as distinct dreamlike images of love, longing, patriotism, and all those things that 20th century art often denied itself the right to uphold for some higher causes such as war, politics and everyday hardships. 

The Zagreb exhibition will present the most important topics of his opus: religious and romance themes, scenes from the circus which he simply adored, his surrealist opus and graphic art, amongst which are the most exquisitely hand colored illustrations for La Fontaine’s Fables. 

Chagall’s works that we will be presented in Zagreb come from the Biblical Message Museum in Nice, and the famous Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. 

The curator of the Zagreb exhibition is the leading authority on Chagall, and until recently the director of Chagall’s Museum in Nice, Jean – Michell Foray. The exhibition is a result of collaboration with the artist’s granddaughter, Meret Meyer. The curator of the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery is famous for her successful international projects, among which the “Dora Maar, Picasso – Touching Through Looks” exhibition was perhaps the most significant. 

The Klovićevi Dvori Gallery has also prepared a number of accompanying events such as art workshops for children, lectures, thematic evenings and get-togethers, and the museum store will be stocked with a range of Marc Chagall themed gifts and souvenirs.