The artist is best known for his colourful paintings but the first uploads to this new site are sculptures and reliefs.

The first official website dedicated to Marc Chagall has gone live in a key year for the man hailed as the quintessential Jewish artist of the 20th century.

It is a massive labour of love initiated by Meret Meyer, granddaughter of the prolific Russian painter, sculptor and set designer, born Moishe Shagal near Vitebsk in 1887. Indeed, he was so productive that website director Ambre Gauthier says it will take years to complete the detailed list of the estimated 10,000 works the site ultimately aims to host.

“Chagall worked in stained glass and mosaic as well as paint, pen and ink, clay, stone and textiles. We don’t even know yet for sure the total number of pieces,” says art historian Gauthier, who is also director of the Chagall archives and catalogues.

Years of work have already gone into compiling an authoritative catalogue for every medium Chagall worked in but it will take several more years to complete. “We have started with the sculptures, ceramics will be next and everything will be listed from theatre sets and costumes to windows and tapestries as well as the thousands of paintings and drawings,” Gauthie says.

The website, in French and English, is being launched now because this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Chagall Museum in Nice and the opening of a year-long immersive event at the Atelier des Lumières in Paris, as well as exhibitions in Oslo, Madrid and Vilnius.

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New website reveals the unknown Chagall (Jewish Chronicle)
About 100 of the Jewish artist’s most beloved painting are already uploaded to the Discovery section of the site as well as lesser-known gems

Photo: Lovers or Wave with Donkey and Bird by Marc Chagall, in collaboration with Lanfranco Lisarelli, 1952.