Off-site Exhibition: Marc Chagall. Between Poetry and Spirituality

The exhibition Marc Chagall. Between Poetry and Spirituality at the MAR - Museo Archeologico Regionale in the city of Aosta is the major artistic event of 2026. It is part of the museum’s program, which features the great masters of modern art—such as Miró and Picasso—through regular exhibitions.

The exhibition highlights Chagall’s artistic explorations of the Bible, a major theme that ran through his work throughout his life. At the opening of the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice on July 7, 1973, Chagall declared: “Ever since my early youth, I have been captivated by the Bible. It seemed to me—and still seems to me—that it is the greatest source of poetry of all time. Since then, I have sought this reflection in life and in art. The Bible is like an echo of nature, and I have tried to convey this secret.”

The exhibition will focus on the origins of this theme, which began with Ambroise Vollard’s commission for Bible illustrations in 1930, on major figures from the Old Testament such as the Prophets, King David, and Moses, as well as on biblical depictions in stained-glass windows, sculptures, and illustrated books. The exhibition concludes with the artist’s major project: the creation of a museum dedicated to the Biblical Message in Nice.

For this exhibition, a first of its kind in Italy, the Marc Chagall National Museum is lending more than 120 works from its collections, created between 1922 and 1980. Paintings, gouaches, drawings, lithographs, books, sculptures, and ceramics will feature in the exhibition’s sections, revealing both the artist’s creative process, his curiosity in experimenting with numerous artistic practices, and his commitment to monumental commissions.
Curators:

Anne Dopffer, Director of the National Museums of the 20th Century in the Alpes-Maritimes
Grégory Couderc, Heritage Curator at the Marc Chagall National Museum
Alberto Fiz, art critic and curator

_{Marc Chagall, The Descent from the Cross on a Blue Background, 1950, India ink and gouache on paper, 56 x 45.75 cm. Acquired in 2023 by the Marc Chagall National Museum © ADAGP, Paris, 2025}