The Pskov Museum Reserve houses a 1916 painting “Bathing of a Baby” by Marc Chagall.

The future artist was born near Vitebsk in 1887. He was the oldest child in his family and was named Moses or Moishe Khatskelevich. He studied at home and received a traditional Jewish education.

In 1906, Marc Chagall enrolled at the art school of the painter Yehuda Moiseyevich Pen. The following year, he moved to St. Petersburg where he attended the school of the artist and set designer Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich for two years. Later, he became a student of the illustrator and portraitist Léon Bakst.

In 1911, Marc Chagall was awarded a scholarship by Maxim Vinaver, deputy in the State Duma and representative of the Jewish community. Chagall traveled to Paris to study. There, according to the artist himself, he “found himself in the very heart of French painting”.

In 1913, the artist had his first solo exhibition, and in September of that year, his works were featured at the First German Autumn Salon in Berlin.

In July 1915, Marc Chagall married Bella Rosenfeld. After the wedding, the couple moved to Petrograd. While there, the artist joined the Military Industrial Committee. In 1916, Marc and Bella had a daughter who they named Ida. That same year, Chagall painted the painting “Bathing of a Baby”, which is displayed at the Pskov Museum.

The museum acquired this painting from the artist in the early 1920s, with the help of the art dealer Nadezhda Yevseyevna Dobychina. At that time, in 1920, the Exhibition of Paintings by Russian Artists was held in Pskov, organized by Pskov and Petrograd artists together.

Researchers of Marc Chagall’s work have noted that during this time, the artist increasingly focused on everyday themes, often painting Bella and their daughter, and trying to capture loved ones in natural settings.

In the painting from the Pskov collection, the artist depicted the bathing of a child in a small room. A tub is placed on a stool. Bella and Marc are bent over their daughter. On the left, there is a bed with a dark blue blanket decorated with a white pattern. On the right, there is a green stove. There are hangers with towels on the wall. In the lower right corner, there is the signature “Chagall”.