Chagall was born Moishe Zakharovich Shagalov in Vitebsk, in the Russian Empire (which is now Belarus) on July 7, 1887. He was the eldest of eight children in the close-knit Jewish family headed by his father, a herring merchant.

He began to study painting in 1906 under famous local artist Yehuda Pen. Chagall moved to St. Petersburg only a few months later in 1907. He joined the school of the Society of Art Supporters and studied under Nikolai Roerich, meeting artists of every school and style. This period was a difficult one for the Jewish Chagall, as Jewish residents at the time could only live in St. Petersburg with a permit, and in result he was jailed for a brief time. Chagal remained in St. Petersburg until 1910, making various trips to his home village.

After becoming known as an artist, he left St. Petersburg and settled in Paris to be nearer to the art community of the Montparnasse district. In 1914, he returned to Vitebsk and a year later he married his fiancée, Bella. In 1916, the Chagalls had a daughter, Ida. WWI broke out while Chagall was in Russia.

Chagall became an active participant in the Russian Revolution. The Soviet Culture Ministry made him a Commissar of Art for the Vitebsk region, where he eventually founded an art school. But he did not fare well under the Soviet system. He moved to Moscow in 1920 and back to Paris in 1923.

Marc Chagall had to flee from Paris with the German occupation of France during World War II, and the deportation of Jews to the Nazi death camps. He hid in Marseilles and was assisted to escape France through Spain and Portugal by an American journalist. In 1941, the Chagall and his family settled in the USA.

On September 2, 1944, his beloved Bella, passed away from an illness. Two years later in 1946 he returned to Europe. She had been the constant subject of his paintings and companion of his life. By 1949 he had returned to France, to live in the Provence. His works of this period are dedicated to themese inspired by love and the joy of life, with curved, sinuous figures. Chagall remarried in 1952 to Valentina Brodsky.

Mark Chagall was closely associated with the Surrealist Movement. His imaginative works reflect the resonance of fantasy and dreams. Chagall experimented with numerous techniques. He took much from Russian folk-art and folk-life, and portrayed many Biblical themes reflecting his Jewish background. Chagall's works carries many references to his childhood in Jewish Russia. He communicates happiness and optimism through his highly vivid colors.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Chagall became involved with large-scale projects in public spaces and important civic and religious buildings.

Chagall's works are difficult to categorize within the history of modern art. He was involved with avant-guard currents. However, his work always found itself on the margins of the emerging trends, including Cubism and Fauvism. He was closely associated with the Paris School and its exponents, including Amedeo Modigliani.

Chagall died at the age of 98 and is buried in Saint-Paul de Vence, near Nice.