Vitebsk

Although historians challenge this version, it is hard to resist the charm of Vitebsk landscapes that seem to be specially created for an artist’s brush. Indeed, Vitebsk possesses plenty of them. One should only mention the names of Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and many others!

 

In 1919 Marc Chagall opened an Arts School in Vitebsk where the virtuosos of a brush of the time were teaching. They gave Vitebsk a peculiar art interior, having painted it in inconceivable colors and having created on its streets and squares the panels and posters with allegorical plots... Today the Arts Center and the Memorial Museum of Marc Chagall exhibit the documents and works of the Master relating on the years he and his parents spent in Vitebsk. Having arrived in the capital of France in the beginning of the XXth century, Chagall exclaimed: “Оh, Paris! You are my second Vitebsk!”

 

Art traditions of Vitebsk have not died away. There is the Arts Museum, several Arts Schools for children, a number of studios and showrooms. Two Universities prepare artists and designers. Works of local painters can be seen in museums and private collections in different countries of the world.