ARAS

"Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers," by Marc Chagall (1887-19).57. Marc: Chagall. Self-portrait with Seven Fingers. 1911. Oil on canvas. 42 x 50 1/2 in (107 x 128cm.). Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. (Collection: Regnault). Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Russia, in 1889. He spent 1910-14 in Paris, returned to Russia for the years 1914-22. Since then he has lived almost continuously in France. During his first years in Paris he became acquainted with the Cubists and was influenced by their disruptive transformation of visual appearances. But his art is characterised by a lyrical expressionism in which the painter reveals his experiences and dreams, and in which his Russian-Jewish origin is represented through its vigorous folklore culture and its rich vein of poetry. This picture shows both the influence of Cubism and the all-pervading element of fantasy peculiar to Chagall.