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My Life
Completed by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) in 1922, this lyrical, evocative, and unique book is a key work to understanding the life and art of this creative genius who has come to be known as the Father of Surrealism."" His deep roots in Jewish tradition-religious and secular-are reflected in these recollections of his poverty-stricken youth in White Russia, to his involvement in the Paris art world prior to World War I, and back again to Russia until his decision in 1923 to finally return to Paris. ""Belongs unmistakably to the world of his paintings...it flickers with sharp responses and vivid phrases.""-New Statesman
172 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
July 9, 2021
I often said: I am no artist. What then – a cow?
Chagall's memoir is as lyrical, colourful and dreamlike as his paintings - pure poetry.
(I and the village)
Review under construction.
Chagall's memoir is as lyrical, colourful and dreamlike as his paintings - pure poetry.
(I and the village)
Review under construction.
May 28, 2024
La escritura de Chagall es como sus pinturas y dibujos: preciosa y sugerente.
May 25, 2021
Review to follow.
October 30, 2013
My Life By Marc Chagall is an autobiography of the first part of the artist's life, written when Chagall was only 35 and illustrated with 50 sketches and prints also by the artist.
With the intimacy of a diary, Chagall reminisces about the period of his childhood in the Russian 'shtetl' of Vitebsk, his art studies in St Petersburg, his first contact with the art world in Paris ending with his return to Russia – including his period as Commissioner for the Arts in Vitebsk after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Chagall is a born story-teller and the apparent naïvety of his writing style is as deceptive as that of his painting. With consummate skill, he plunges into the heart of his narrative with the first lines, confiding the joys, political turmoil and human tragedies of his early life with humour and poignancy and, in the process, giving us first-hand insight into the motivations and thought processes behind his paintings.
"In the dark of the night, it seemed to me that there were not only smells, but a whole flock of blessings, breaking through the boards, flying into space."
Nostalgically fixing for eternity the people and places of his past using a literary style more akin to Magical Realism than factual reporting, he imbues both his characters and the objects and landscapes around them with a vivacious life proper of his whimsical, surrealist paintings.
"...Papa dozed over the table, the lamp rested and the chairs grew bored..."
If you like Chagall's art, you'll love this book; if you don't, reading his autobiography might just help you see Chagall's art with new eyes.
http://art.cherryjeffs.com/art--creat...
With the intimacy of a diary, Chagall reminisces about the period of his childhood in the Russian 'shtetl' of Vitebsk, his art studies in St Petersburg, his first contact with the art world in Paris ending with his return to Russia – including his period as Commissioner for the Arts in Vitebsk after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Chagall is a born story-teller and the apparent naïvety of his writing style is as deceptive as that of his painting. With consummate skill, he plunges into the heart of his narrative with the first lines, confiding the joys, political turmoil and human tragedies of his early life with humour and poignancy and, in the process, giving us first-hand insight into the motivations and thought processes behind his paintings.
"In the dark of the night, it seemed to me that there were not only smells, but a whole flock of blessings, breaking through the boards, flying into space."
Nostalgically fixing for eternity the people and places of his past using a literary style more akin to Magical Realism than factual reporting, he imbues both his characters and the objects and landscapes around them with a vivacious life proper of his whimsical, surrealist paintings.
"...Papa dozed over the table, the lamp rested and the chairs grew bored..."
If you like Chagall's art, you'll love this book; if you don't, reading his autobiography might just help you see Chagall's art with new eyes.
http://art.cherryjeffs.com/art--creat...
February 27, 2016
Vincent Van Gogh, Abidin Dino, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu gibi ressamların mektuplarını okuduktan sonra ressamların yazdıkları metinlerin de edebi açıdan iyi olması gerektiğine dair bir yargım var. Chagall'ın biyografisi ise edebi açıdan kötü, resimlerini daha iyi anlamak ve hayatına tanıklık yapmak açısından iyi.
November 24, 2025
how alive can one's writing be!
April 18, 2022
"Their father ate grapes the way mine ate onions; and poultry, which was sacrificed no more than once a year in our house, on the eve of the Day of Atonement, was always on their table."
October 31, 2024
Mi sarebbe piaciuto che Chagall avesse proseguito la sua biografia includendo ancora più anni, più vita e più poesia. Mi sono piaciute molto queste pagine, vi ho letto pensieri di poesia e di sogno, visibili anche nei momenti più bui, più tristi. Le sue parole hanno l’effetto dei suoi quadri, dei suoi colori. Lui è là, in mezzo alle nuvole, sopra i tetti di Vitebsk ma anche sopra i tetti di altre città, unito per mano alla sua Belle, che sorvola con l’amore il dolore della vita, degli eventi. Eventi anche di grande impatto che lo hanno provato, segnato ma dai quali riesce a riprendersi, scivolando magari nelle pieghe nascoste della sua sensibilità. Bellissimo!
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March 10, 2022"Con chẳng cần danh vọng, mà chỉ mong là một người thủ công im lặng như thầy, giống như những tấm tranh treo trên tường của thầy. Con muốn được đem theo chính mình lên gần chúng, gần thầy, ở nhà thầy, trên những con đường thầy đi. Xin thầy cho phép con."
February 13, 2021
This Life of Chagall covers the earliest period from his youth to his teaching in an orphan colony in Malachovska (1921). So youth in Vitebsk, study St. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, Vitebsk, Petrograd, Moscow, Malachovska.
Enchanted by Chagall's incomparable painting I bought a number of books, including this personal work. Because Chagall's work is so original, cannot really be captured in any movement, I was extremely curious about his motives, his inspiration. From his earliest creations, probably still unaffected by education, he has a very own style, what he portrays and the way in which. Where does that come from? What were his very first expressions of art, what works were there before he was taught by Pen and attended the St. Petersburg Academy of Art, how were his talents recognized? I was very curious about his own story.
This book is almost as poetic as his work. Strange performances as a child. Like during a wedding his head detaches from his body to continue crying at the fish in the kitchen. Things like that explain his imagery from which he draws his inspiration. The way he perceives the world around him, that is pure happiness. The saying goes, "The wonders of the world are there for everyone, but not everyone sees them."
As a boy he floats in the river Dvina that flows through Vitebsk: “I am alone in the river. I take a bath. I hardly stir the water. Around our peaceful city. The milky sky, blue-black, is a bit bluer on the left, further upwards heavenly happiness radiates downwards. Suddenly smoke rises on the opposite bank from under the roof of the synagogue. As if you heard the cries of the burning Torah scrolls and the altar. The windows pop. Quickly, out of the water! In my naked I run over the tree trunks to get my clothes. I love burnings.”
In addition to his infectious childhood memories, it contains many of his etchings and drawings that are inspired by it, but those who expect a certain chronology or even a date, which drawings are free and which have already been influenced by his education, are disappointed. It is true that you see the characteristics of his descriptions of family members and people in general in the bizarre figures he portrays: “Everything is hiding in me, writhing and floating as a memory of you. Your pallor, the thinness of your hands, your parched skeletons grab me by the throat.”
I found it a wonderful book to read, especially his very first childhood memories give a good picture of life in a simple Jewish community. Not a literary tour de force, but almost a regional novel.
Enchanted by Chagall's incomparable painting I bought a number of books, including this personal work. Because Chagall's work is so original, cannot really be captured in any movement, I was extremely curious about his motives, his inspiration. From his earliest creations, probably still unaffected by education, he has a very own style, what he portrays and the way in which. Where does that come from? What were his very first expressions of art, what works were there before he was taught by Pen and attended the St. Petersburg Academy of Art, how were his talents recognized? I was very curious about his own story.
This book is almost as poetic as his work. Strange performances as a child. Like during a wedding his head detaches from his body to continue crying at the fish in the kitchen. Things like that explain his imagery from which he draws his inspiration. The way he perceives the world around him, that is pure happiness. The saying goes, "The wonders of the world are there for everyone, but not everyone sees them."
As a boy he floats in the river Dvina that flows through Vitebsk: “I am alone in the river. I take a bath. I hardly stir the water. Around our peaceful city. The milky sky, blue-black, is a bit bluer on the left, further upwards heavenly happiness radiates downwards. Suddenly smoke rises on the opposite bank from under the roof of the synagogue. As if you heard the cries of the burning Torah scrolls and the altar. The windows pop. Quickly, out of the water! In my naked I run over the tree trunks to get my clothes. I love burnings.”
In addition to his infectious childhood memories, it contains many of his etchings and drawings that are inspired by it, but those who expect a certain chronology or even a date, which drawings are free and which have already been influenced by his education, are disappointed. It is true that you see the characteristics of his descriptions of family members and people in general in the bizarre figures he portrays: “Everything is hiding in me, writhing and floating as a memory of you. Your pallor, the thinness of your hands, your parched skeletons grab me by the throat.”
I found it a wonderful book to read, especially his very first childhood memories give a good picture of life in a simple Jewish community. Not a literary tour de force, but almost a regional novel.
October 25, 2013
A poetic autobiography unlike any I've read before. It's an interesting insight into Chagall as a person and artist (emphasis on the latter) but also - with so much time that has now elapsed - into the state of Russia/Soviet Union and Europe during the early part of his life.
He wrote this in 1922, when he still had another 60+ years to live and one wonders what a sequel would have looked like.
Wonderful, simple drawings by Chagall illustrate the book.
He wrote this in 1922, when he still had another 60+ years to live and one wonders what a sequel would have looked like.
Wonderful, simple drawings by Chagall illustrate the book.
April 19, 2014
Отличная книга, прочитав ее просто невозможно не влюбиться в картины Шагала. Как написал сам Шагал: "Писал эти страницы как краски по холсту. Если бы на моих картинах был кармашек, я бы положил их туда..." Эту книгу можно использовать как лекарство для души, она буквально пропитана любовью к родному городу, к близким людям, к жизни. А образы такие яркие и поэтичные, что не перестаешь удивляться как в простых явлениях жизни можно увидеть столько красоты.
December 19, 2020
Hayatım, okuduğum diğer otobiyografi kitaplarına hiç benzemiyor. Chagall’ı bir şair olarak kim düşünebilir ki? Chagall gençliğinin, ailesinin, sanatçı olma mücadelesinin sözlü resimlerini çiziyor. Sanatçı olmak isteyen herkes için okuması gereken bir kitap. Kitap çok hızlı bir şekilde okunsa da uyandırdığı dokunaklı duyguların etkisi çabuk geçecek gibi durmuyor. Chagall’ın acı veren gençliği, yaşadığı yoksulluğu beni gerçekten okurken rahatsız etti.
İlham verici bir hatay hikayesi!
İlham verici bir hatay hikayesi!
August 8, 2017
Att vara ung och längta till Paris, we've all been there. Med sitt solgula omslag - till bokbingot - blev den här en av sommarens finaste läsupplevelser.
Ett försök att förmedla något av tonen, som påminner om Pessoas - universell och existentiell. Här drömmer den unge Chagall om att ta sig ifrån den trista, vitryska lilla orten (med judisk härkomst var det knappt möjligt att ens resa till Sankt Petersburg) och ägna sig åt konsten, inte åt att bli "a clerk or an accountant" enligt moderns önskemål:
"But a word as fantastic, as literary, as out of this world as the word 'artist' - yes, perhaps I had heard it but in my town no one ever pronounced it."
"You know, my parents, I'm already a different man - sad and disillusioned of many things!
But enough! A u r e v o i r !"
Ett försök att förmedla något av tonen, som påminner om Pessoas - universell och existentiell. Här drömmer den unge Chagall om att ta sig ifrån den trista, vitryska lilla orten (med judisk härkomst var det knappt möjligt att ens resa till Sankt Petersburg) och ägna sig åt konsten, inte åt att bli "a clerk or an accountant" enligt moderns önskemål:
"But a word as fantastic, as literary, as out of this world as the word 'artist' - yes, perhaps I had heard it but in my town no one ever pronounced it."
"You know, my parents, I'm already a different man - sad and disillusioned of many things!
But enough! A u r e v o i r !"
October 1, 2025
Sanki bir sergide geziyor gibi hayatını Ehl-i olduğu sanat dallarıyla canlandırıyor. Bağlamdan kopuk rüya parçaları birbirini bir düzende takip ederken anlamlı bir bütün oluşturuyor. Sanatçıların akımları oluştururken onların ne anlama geldiğini bilmek yerine hissettiklerini kanıtlıyor sanki Chagall’ın içsel diyaloğu. Sanatın her dalında yetenekli olup böyle sefillik yaşamak…
August 14, 2019
Sevdiğim ressamlar arasında Chagall yok. Yine de otobiyografi okumayı çok severim, üstelik kitap Jaguar’dan ve çevirmen İsmet Birkan. Benim gibi bir okur fazlasına gerek duymaz.
Daha ilk satırlardan itibaren sıcak bir el yakaladı sanki beni. Kimi cümlelerde bir Platonov romanı okur gibi büyülendim. Çok ama çok zor bir hayat var ortada ama tam tersine kitap şiirsel ifadelerle dolu. Arada inanılmaz güzellikte cümleler var. Anlatım biraz dağınık gibi olsa da aslında ressam tıpkı resimlerindeki mistik hava gibi bir yazım tarzı tutturmuş.
Ve kitabın sekizinci sayfasındaki üçüncü cümle hâlâ hafızamdan çıkmış değil.
Daha ilk satırlardan itibaren sıcak bir el yakaladı sanki beni. Kimi cümlelerde bir Platonov romanı okur gibi büyülendim. Çok ama çok zor bir hayat var ortada ama tam tersine kitap şiirsel ifadelerle dolu. Arada inanılmaz güzellikte cümleler var. Anlatım biraz dağınık gibi olsa da aslında ressam tıpkı resimlerindeki mistik hava gibi bir yazım tarzı tutturmuş.
Ve kitabın sekizinci sayfasındaki üçüncü cümle hâlâ hafızamdan çıkmış değil.
March 14, 2013
This was written when Marc Chagall's life was not even half over, so if you are wanting to find out about his whole life -- especially his work in the international art world -- this will not satisfy. On the other hand, this is his own voice, with lots of stories about his childhood and youth in Vitebsk and discovery of Paris -- plus it is illustrated with his own pen-and-ink drawings. Worth a read, but not a thorough study. He kind of wanted to be a poet -- but his paintings are way better!
November 28, 2021
A fragmentary, stream-of-conscious autobiography written in 1922. We follow the emerging artist as he leaves the ghetto, makes his way to Paris before returning to Belarus to marry his fiancée. At every stage he describes the drive to create and the certain knowledge that he was an artist.
We get snapshots his life as a young man, his parents, his uncles. It's a Jewish life, but it's also just life. We see him not really fitting in with any of the recognized artistic traditions. He tries to learn to do the things artists are supposed to do, but he is compelled to follow his own muse.
But alongside this free-flowing artistic sensibility, we also get some of the practical problems of patronage - finding patrons, being abandoned by a patron - living at the mercy of the wealthy.
I would have to read an academic biography of the man to know more about his life and achievements, but as an insight into the mind of a working artist on the brink of global recognition, this was a pretty special read.
We get snapshots his life as a young man, his parents, his uncles. It's a Jewish life, but it's also just life. We see him not really fitting in with any of the recognized artistic traditions. He tries to learn to do the things artists are supposed to do, but he is compelled to follow his own muse.
But alongside this free-flowing artistic sensibility, we also get some of the practical problems of patronage - finding patrons, being abandoned by a patron - living at the mercy of the wealthy.
I would have to read an academic biography of the man to know more about his life and achievements, but as an insight into the mind of a working artist on the brink of global recognition, this was a pretty special read.
August 17, 2025
I still don't know that much biographical info about Chagall, but I feel that I have glimpsed the essence of him, caught a snatch of the way he views the world, and that feels infinitely more valuable to me. Almost stream of consciousness, flitting about being different parts of the past and the present moment, as soon as I settled into this intriguing narrative style I just let myself be swept away and absolutely loved it.
August 21, 2017
Sürrealist ressam Marc Chagall hiç bıkmadan seveceğim, renklerine mi tablolarındaki insanların uçuşuna mı kapılacağımı şaşırdığım benim için ayrı bir kefeye koyduğum nadide insanlardandır. Bu kitabı da hayatının üçte birini kapsayan bir otobiyografisi. Ben ki biyografi okumayı sevmediğimden mektup ve otobiyografileri daha çok önemsiyorum. 35 yaşındayken yazdığı bu kitapta onun çocukluğunu kendi dilinden dinlemek inanılmaz heyecan vericiydi. Belki sürrealizm söz konusu olunca biraz daha otomatik yazım beklemiş olabilirim ama böyle de güzeldi.. Renkli basımla kitapta sözü geçen resimleri ekleyebilselerdi daha keyifli bir baskı olabilirdi. Sonuç olarak, ben Marc Chagall'ı sevdiğim için kitabı sevdiğimi düşünüyorum sizi bilmem.
July 13, 2012
Well, it was one of those selfbiographies who disappoint you because you see that your myth is real, it's alive and it's... just a human as you, he suffers like you, he ages like you, he goes to the bathroom like you. It's interesting to see how one of your favourite artist became who he is, on the other side I have the feeling that beside incredibly gifted for painting, he was just like me and my neighbour. And I haven't yet decided if this should comfort of discomfort me.
October 15, 2023
marc chagall is one of, if not my most favorite painter/stained-glass-window-maker, but I really couldn't get through this. stream of consciousness ramblings where the topic seems to change sentence to sentence. I was hoping to read this and understand more of the artist, and in some ways I think the frantic nature of many of his paintings is represented in this. it is slightly redeemed for me by the intimate and seemingly authentic nature.
March 30, 2008
Chagall's autobiography is almost as hallucinatory and psychedelic as his art work: vibrant, optimistic, and mystical. I loved reading this account of his life, from his childhood in a conservative Jewish family in Russia to his poor years in Paris to the loving relationship he maintained with his wife Bella.
March 17, 2019
Chagall paints his life with words as he does in pictures. Gathering dreams and memories by their subjective associations, he transforms feelings into colours. Humanity, love, and the soul all demand to be heard in his personal language.
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March 1, 2024A vaguely abstract read where specific meaning is left between the sentences at times. It gives an emotive overview of Chagall's early life in a way that reflects his art style. Wonderful read for an intersection who are fans of Chagall's paintings and poetic ramblings. I enjoyed it.
August 29, 2018
I loved this book. He wrote like he painted. Whimsical, magical, poetic.
October 16, 2024
Il y a des livres dont on se rappelle le titre après les avoir entendu de la bouche d'une personne qu'on a admiré, qu'on a voulu impressionner, et à laquelle on a essayé de ressembler, tant bien que mal, pour devenir cet ideal que l'on arrivait pas à voir chez soi, mais qui semblait s'incarner chez un autre.
Ce livre en fait partie. Je l'ai lu d'une traite alors que la personne qui m'en avait parlé ne fait aujourd'hui plus partie de mon paysage, un peu comme l'ami d'enfance de Chagall, mentionné dans cette autobiographie qui, finalement, ressemble assez fortement à ses peintures, à compter du fait que les mots, ici, remplacent les couleurs.
Difficile donc de noter objectivement cet ouvrage. Je décide d'en retenir la poésie, l'honnêteté, la sensibilité, et les références ici et la aux rencontres avec de grands artistes de l'histoire.
Globalement, je pense qu'il est important de lire ce livre pour comprendre l'une des très nombreuses composantes de cette entité complexe que certains appellent communément l'âme russe.
La vie de Chagall, c'est une Russie bien loin des récits fantasmés. Celle des shtetel et de la zone d'habitation. Celle des pogroms et des villages qui brûlent. Celle des quotas dans les universités.
Je recommande ce livre.
Ce livre en fait partie. Je l'ai lu d'une traite alors que la personne qui m'en avait parlé ne fait aujourd'hui plus partie de mon paysage, un peu comme l'ami d'enfance de Chagall, mentionné dans cette autobiographie qui, finalement, ressemble assez fortement à ses peintures, à compter du fait que les mots, ici, remplacent les couleurs.
Difficile donc de noter objectivement cet ouvrage. Je décide d'en retenir la poésie, l'honnêteté, la sensibilité, et les références ici et la aux rencontres avec de grands artistes de l'histoire.
Globalement, je pense qu'il est important de lire ce livre pour comprendre l'une des très nombreuses composantes de cette entité complexe que certains appellent communément l'âme russe.
La vie de Chagall, c'est une Russie bien loin des récits fantasmés. Celle des shtetel et de la zone d'habitation. Celle des pogroms et des villages qui brûlent. Celle des quotas dans les universités.
Je recommande ce livre.
October 15, 2020
Wunderschöne Ausgabe vom Insel Verlag. Zwar winzig-kleine, was bei den Graphiken etwas stört (mit Lupe angeschaut), aber alles sehr elegant: der Einband, Papier. Wenn man die unnützig wiedeholte Akapite des Buches im Nachwort von Schneider ließt, erkennt man aber, daß die Chagalls Texte gekürzt wurden - warum?? Der Maler ist viel besser im Skizzieren mit der Nadel, anstatt mit dem Füller. Sagt auch viel. Er hat so viel Zertlichkeit gegenüber seinen Eltern, seiner Frau und der Heimat... Kein Strich ist unnötig. Sehr schön zu sehen, wie einzigartig er den Realismus der Darstellung mit der kubischen und fauvischen Formen koppelt.
July 3, 2025
I really enjoyed 'My Life'. in Marc Chagall, I see aspects of myself: a deep yet sometimes conflicted Jewish identity, a strong sense of nostalgia, and the feeling of being misunderstood or unseen sometimes (with the latter, I am okay). I very much admire his perseverence -growing up as a Jew, in a confined space, the "Pale of Settlement", longing for a homeland that often rejected him, and choosing an unconventional path as an artist ("What is an artist?!" One would ask). Despite poverty, wars, emotional struggles and artistic challenges, he never gave up. That resilience is truly inspiring.
August 29, 2021
I absolutely love this autobiography. It is full with such life and love! the writing style is ethereal like he is and isnt there, he is correct when he says he lives in his memory. Marc Chagall as one of my favourite artists, endeared himself further through this personal text. May his memory be a blessing!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews