Image: Didier Aaron Ltd., London
An exhibition of 120 works by Marc Chagall, including several not previously shown in Italy, is on view at the Museo Archeologico Regionale in Aosta from 20 June through 25 October 2026. ‘Marc Chagall. Tra poesia e spiritualità’ brings together works from the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice and examines the central place of the Hebrew Bible and the sacred in the artist’s practice.
The exhibition is curated by Grégory Couderc, conservator of the Musée National Marc Chagall, Anne Dopffer, director of the Musées nationaux du XXe siècle des Alpes-Maritimes, and the art critic Alberto Fiz. It was produced by the Struttura attività culturali, espositive e politiche identitarie of the Regione autonoma Valle d’Aosta in partnership with the Nice museum, and is accompanied by a bilingual Italian–French catalogue published by Allemandi.
The exhibition spans paintings, sculptures, gouache works, drawings, lithographs, illustrated books and ceramics made between 1922 and 1980. Its stated focus is Chagall’s complex relationship with the sacred, tracing how biblical subjects became an increasingly important source of poetic and artistic inspiration across the different stages of his career.
Among the works on display are the study for ‘Il Cantico dei Cantici III’ (1957), ‘Il Profeta Isaia’ (1968) and ‘La Torre di Davide’ (1968–71). They are presented alongside historical works from the 1930s, including ‘La circoncisione di Abramo’ and ‘Giuseppe riconosciuto dai fratelli’. Together, the selection follows Chagall’s movement between painting, printmaking, sculpture and book illustration while keeping his engagement with biblical narratives at its core.
Chagall was fascinated by the Bible from his youth and deepened his study of it from the 1930s onward. A visit to Palestine in 1931 strengthened his connection with Jewish tradition and with the places evoked in Scripture. The exhibition presents that experience as part of the background to a body of work in which religious imagery is joined to memory, symbolism and poetry.
Organised in eight thematic sections, the display follows both the evolution of Chagall’s style and the gradual consolidation of the biblical theme. From the mid-1950s, biblical subjects became central to his research, leading to the creation of the ‘Messaggio Biblico’ cycle. The cycle was destined for the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice, which opened in 1973 as the first French museum devoted to a living artist.
The Nice museum’s collection provides the exhibition with a direct institutional link to this late body of work, while the Aosta presentation places it alongside earlier examples that establish the theme’s longer development. The exhibition describes Chagall’s vision as extending beyond strictly religious and cultural boundaries, framing the biblical works around ideas of hope and the regeneration of humanity.
The Museo Archeologico Regionale is located at Piazza Roncas 12 in Aosta. It is open daily from 9am to 7pm, with admission priced at €8, or €6 at the reduced rate; the exhibition is included in the Abbonamento Musei circuit. ‘Marc Chagall. Tra poesia e spiritualità’ remains on view until 25 October 2026.
