“My father seemed enigmatic and sad to me. Incomprehensible, somehow. Нe is always exhausted and anxious…” This is how Chagall describes his father on the first pages of his autobiography My Life, with his “long, never-trimmed beard, his dark brown, almost ash-coloured eyes, and a face the colour of burnt ochre, with wrinkles and folds.” (Chagall, Marc. Moya zhizn’. Ellis Luck, Moscow, 1994, p. 2) His portrait of his father is filled with the same tenderness as the description above. Chagall’s grandmother is depicted near his father in a painting imbued with domestic peace and comfort. This piece dates from the period when Chagall had returned to Vitebsk from Paris, and painted not only members of his family but also scenes from everyday life.
It was exhibited in 1916 in Moscow at the Knave of Diamonds exhibition (No. 351) and in Petrograd at the Contemporary Russian Painting exhibition (No. 100).

Chagall Marc

Chagall, Marc (Shagal, Mark Zakharovich)
1887, Vitebsk - 1985, St Paul de Vence (France)
Painter, graphic artist. Studied at the Yehuda Pen School in Vitebsk (1906), School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1907-08), Seidenberg''s studio, under Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Leon Bakst at the Elizaveta Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting (1908-09) and in private studios in Paris (1910-14). Contributed to the exhibitions of the World of Art (1912), Donkey''s Tail (1912), Salon des Independants (1912-14) and Jack of Diamonds (1916). Lived in Vitebsk and Petrograd (from 1915), director of the Vitebsk School of Art. Moved to Moscow (1920) and worked for the Jewish Chamber Theatre. Illustrated Nikolai Gogol''s Dead Souls and La Fontaine''s frobtes for Ambroise Vollard. Designed the sets and costumes for a production of Igor Stravinsky''s ballet The Firebird (1945). Retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern An in New York (1946). Lived in Paris (from 1923), USA (from 1941) and St Paul de Vence (from 1950).