My Life Penguin Modern Classic. This item is unavailable.My Life Penguin Modern Classic

'As fresh, poignant and individual as his paintings' Lucy Beckett, TLS, Books of the Year 2018

'Here is my soul. Look for me here; here I am, here are my pictures, my roots'

Marc Chagall, one of the twentieth century's most popular artists, grew up in a close-knit, bustling Russian-Jewish community, the son of a herring seller. In his colourful, dreamlike autobiography, written as he was about to leave his homeland for good in 1922, he vividly brings to life the memories and places that fed into his unique work, from his shtetl childhood to revolutionary Russia and Belle Èpoque Paris. Filled with Chagall's own evocative illustrations, My Life is as warm, joyful and humane as his art.

'Chagall writes as whimsically as he paints: lovingly ofother people, humorously and lovingly of himself' Daily Mail

'Anyone who likes Chagall's paintings will enjoy this book:the work of an unteachable, unspoiled folk artist' Evening Standard

Marc Chagall was born in White Russia and brought up in the Jewish community of Witebsk. He was a prolific artist, producing whimsical, dream-like paintings, stained glass windows, stage sets, ceramics and tapestries. He studied art in St Petersburg and he became Commissar of Arts in Witebsk after the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1923 he settled in Paris and, apart from evacuating to New York during the Second World War, he lived in France until his death in 1985. In the 1950s, Picasso predicted that 'Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is'.