Marc Chagall Museum

The Marc Chagall Museum is a museum complex in Vitebsk, Belarus, devoted to the life and work of the painter Marc Chagall, who was born in the city in 1887. Established by decision of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee on October 23, 1991, it occupies a total area of 294 square metres (3,160 square feet) across two distinct sites: the Marc Chagall Art Center and the Marc Chagall House-Museum. The institution preserves and presents the artist's connection to his native city, a relationship he chronicled throughout his long career and especially in his autobiographical writings.

The museum was formally founded on October 23, 1991, by decision of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee. Its first component, the Marc Chagall Art Center at 2 Putna Street, opened in 1992. A second venue, the Marc Chagall House-Museum at 11 Pokrovskaya Street, followed in 1997. The House-Museum is located in the dwelling constructed by the artist's father in the early 1900s, where Chagall spent his formative years. The museum's development has been accompanied by scholarly activity, including the publication of the Bulletin of the Marc Chagall Museum and the organisation of the annual Chagall Readings conference series, which have generated substantial research on Chagall's biography and the artistic culture of Vitebsk.

The collection is divided between the two sites according to their distinct purposes. The Art Center concentrates on graphic works by Chagall, including woodcuts, etchings, and aquatints, as well as printed graphics by European avant-garde artists such as Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Fernand Léger. It also maintains a scientific library of more than 3,500 volumes dedicated to Chagall and other avant-garde artists. The House-Museum presents the domestic environment of Chagall's youth through household items of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, together with copies of archival documents and works relating to the life of the artist and his family in Vitebsk.

Among the signature works at the Art Center are several major print series: the illustrations for Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls produced between 1923 and 1925; colour lithograph series on biblical themes from 1956 and 1960; and the cycle The 12 Tribes of Israel from 1960. These holdings represent significant periods of Chagall's graphic production, from his early Paris years to his later work in colour lithography. The collection of European avant-garde printed graphics by Miró, Picasso, and Léger places Chagall's own graphic work within a broader context of 20th-century printmaking.

The museum complex comprises two buildings with distinct architectural characters and functions. The Marc Chagall Art Center at 2 Putna Street is a purpose-built exhibition facility with five exposition halls and four exhibition halls. The Marc Chagall House-Museum at 11 Pokrovskaya Street preserves the actual family residence built by Chagall's father in the early 1900s, offering visitors direct contact with the physical setting of the artist's childhood. As of 2021, the nearby Great Lubavitch Synagogue, where Chagall and his family were congregants, remained in a dilapidated state and was open to investors interested in restoration.

The Marc Chagall Museum is located in Vitebsk, in northeastern Belarus. The institution operates under municipal auspices, having been founded by the Vitebsk City Executive Committee. Its official website is http://chagal-vitebsk.com/. The dual-site structure, with the Art Center and the House-Museum at separate addresses, allows visitors to encounter both the formal development of Chagall's graphic art and the intimate domestic context from which he emerged. The museum's present role extends beyond exhibition to encompass scholarly research and publication, serving as a central institution for the study of Chagall's life and the broader artistic culture of Vitebsk.