Ravenna's MAR pays tribute to Marc Chagall and his connection to mosaic: an exhibition in 2025

Next fall the Biennale of Contemporary Mosaic will return to Ravenna, an event that, for three intense months, will invite visitors to immerse themselves in a technique with a centuries-old history that never ceases to fascinate: mosaic. For the occasion, the Ravenna MAR presents, from October 18, 2025 to January 18, 2026, the exhibition dedicated to one of the most important masters of the 20th century: Marc Chagall (Lëzna, 1887 - Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 1985). The Marc Chagall and the Mosaic exhibition, co-produced by the Musée national Marc Chagall in Nice and the Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, will be curated by the general director of the Musées nationaux du XXe siècle des Alpes-Maritimes, Anne Dopffér, by the scientific director of the Museé national Marc Chagall, Gregory Couderc, by the curator of the Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, Giorgia Salerno, and by the artistic director of the 9th Ravenna Contemporary Mosaic Biennial, Daniele Torcellini. The Contemporary Mosaic Biennial is promoted, organized and supported by the City of Ravenna, Department of Culture and Mosaic, coordinated by MAR. Starting with one of the masterpieces in the MAR’s collection, Le Coq bleu, the exhibition will be the first major project dedicated to Chagall’s relationship with mosaic, a fundamental aspect of his work that developed mainly after World War II and in close collaboration with Ravenna mosaicists. The exhibition, which will have its first stop at the Musée national Marc Chagall between May and September 2025, is part of the French museum’s exhibition itinerary dedicated to analyzing the techniques used by the artist. The project continues the work done by the MAR Museum as part of the Contemporary Mosaic Biennials, where the role of mosaic in modern and contemporary art has been explored for years.

Marc Chagall, fascinated by mosaic as an artistic medium, found in the technique a new way to investigate the relationships between light, color and matter. His adventure with mosaic began in 1954, after a trip to Greece that led him to discover the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna. In 1955, at the invitation of art historian Lionello Venturi and Giuseppe Bovini, then director of the National Museum of Ravenna, he participated in a group exhibition of modern mosaics. The event, organized in collaboration with Giulio Carlo Argan and Palma Bucarelli, involved the creation of works based on sketches by international artists and was the founding nucleus of the MAR’s permanent collection. On this occasion Chagall created his first mosaic, Le Coq bleu, experimenting with a technique that would become an integral part of his artistic practice. From that moment, his production was enriched with monumental works that dialogue with architectural space, thanks in part to his collaboration with mosaicists Lino and Heidi Melano, and later Michel Tharin. To date, Le Coq bleu, created by Ravenna mosaicist Antonio Rocchi, is one of the masterpieces in the collection of the Ravenna City Art Museum. After the Ravenna mosaic, Chagall created thirteen other mosaics distributed among southern France (Nice, Vence, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Les-Arcs-sur-Argens), the United States (Chicago, Washington), Israel (Jerusalem), and Switzerland (work created for a hôtel particulier in Paris later transferred to the Gianadda Foundation in Martigny in 2003), among them the famous Les Amoureux for the Maeght Foundation (1964), the mosaic Le Mur des Lamentations for the Knesset in Jerusalem (1965-1966), Le Char d’Elie for the Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice (1971), the large The Four Seasons, for the First National Bank in Chicago (1974).

The exhibition will offer for the first time a comprehensive view of the mosaics created by Marc Chagall between 1958 and 1986, including works from private collections and prestigious institutions both nationally and internationally. The exhibition will include transportable mosaics, preparatory sketches, maquettes and works on paper illustrating the stages of the creative process of each project. Paintings, drawings, engravings and lithographs will complement the exhibition, outlining the artist’s evolutionary path. The display will be enhanced by immersive sets, large-format photographs and tactile pathways to highlight the peculiarities of this age-old technique. The exhibition will also make it possible to investigate the links between Chagall, the Mosaic School of the Ravenna Academy of Fine Arts, the Mosaicists Group and theÉcole d’Art Italien in Paris directed by Gino Severini. Special attention will then be paid to the collaboration between the artist and Ravenna mosaicist Lino Melano, with whom Chagall created some of his most significant mosaic works. A special section will be devoted to Chagall’s relationship with the mosaic environment in Ravenna, highlighting the contribution of the master mosaicists who worked alongside him. Highlights of the exhibition include the presentation of the original sketch that Chagall sent to Ravenna for the creation of the mosaic Le Coq bleu. Thanks to the support of the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Province of Ravenna, the mosaic will be exceptionally relocated from Ravenna for a few months before returning for the second leg of the exhibition at the 9th Contemporary Mosaic Biennial. A comprehensive, one-of-a-kind catalog will be published in conjunction with the event and will become an important scholarly reference.

“We are proud to host such an important exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest masters of twentieth-century art,” says Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Culture and Mosaic Fabio Sbaraglia. “With Marc Chagall and the Mosaic, the MAR, will offer visitors and visitors to the Museum a rare and valuable opportunity to explore the research of an artist who, in close collaboration with the mosaic workers of Ravenna, was able to innovate and transform the technique of mosaic into a unique and personal expressive language, capable of dialoguing with architecture and space. This exhibition represents a unique opportunity not only to celebrate Chagall, but also to reconfirm our city as a point of reference for culture and mosaic in particular, continuing to weave relationships with leading institutions such as the Musée national Marc Chagall together with whom we are carrying out this important operation.”

Ravenna's MAR pays tribute to Marc Chagall and his connection to mosaic: an exhibition in 2025

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