We are proud to present Marc Chagall and the Bible, a collection of biblical lithographs from 1956 and 1960, on loan from Bowden Collections.

Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985) has been called the quintessential Jewish artist of the 20th century, and one of the foremost visual interpreters of the Bible. With wit and joy, he has given us marvelous depictions of the stories we know so well from the Old Testament. His art is filled with his own recurring symbols drawn from visual memory and imagination.

Chagall said that he did not see the Bible, but he dreamed it, even as a child. He wrote, “Our whole inner world is a reality, perhaps more real than the apparent world.” Chagall’s vision of the Old Testament combines his Jewish heritage and upbringing in Vitebsk, Russia and modern art in rich images with multiple meanings.