From chapel to museum,

the creation of the Biblical Message

May 5th – octobre 15th 2018

Soon after his return to France in the early 1950s, Marc Chagall began work on the epic painted cycle he entitled Biblical Message. The series was

originally intended for the Chapelle du Calvaire in Vence, where he lived. Through this cycle, he followed in the footsteps of Matisse, whose work on

the Chapelle du Rosaire (inaugurated in 1951) he had been following closely, as well as that of Picasso, who had showcased his monumental War and

Peace in the Roman chapel of the Vallauris priory in 1952. Yet Chagall’s plans for the chapel in Vence were transformed into a museum that was to be

built in Nice. The site was to be the very first French museum dedicated to a living artist. Drawing on never-before-seen archive materials of the

delicate sketches that formed the foundations of the epic Biblical Message cycle, the exhibition travels back in time to tell the tale of a creative

process that continues to enchant visitors to the Marc Chagall museum.