Madrid Hosts Marc Chagall Collection

From the land of his birth in Russia to his death in France in 1985, more than 150 works from some 30 museums and private collections are on display.

The exhibitions offer a broad sweep of the Russian legend's work, taking visitors through his youth in Paris in the 1920s and US exile in the 1940s.

Chagall's earliest works up to his departure from the United States in 1948 will be on display at Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza, one of the capital's three major museums.

Meanwhile Fundacion Caja Madrid is hosting his later works, many of which are on a larger scale and so require more space for viewing.

His works depict a flurry of characters - from peasants and musicians to circus acts and illustrations of books and fables.

The artist's granddaughter, Meret Meyer, vice-president of Chagall committee, says the sheer extent of the exhibition is unusual. 'It is extremely rare to have so many masterpieces together, to bring together so many paintings from all over the world is something that won't happen again for many years,' she said.

'It is the first time he has been shown in such a global way, the first exhibition which shows him in such a fluid, natural way, in which you discover innovative elements alongside the masterworks that make up his career.'

The artist is said to have been 'atypical' because despite his contacts in Paris with cubism, fauvism and abstract painting, 'throughout the 20th century he developed a work that was outside any movement'.

That is according to exhibition organiser Jean-Louis Prat, who compared Chagall with Spanish contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. Mr Prat noted the 'independence' Chagall maintained, explaining that he enjoyed discovering 'all these vanguards', but used them only a little.

'The idea is to discover a world that has nothing to do with the 20th century painting we know in Spain,' he said.

The works are on display from February 14 to May 20.

Emma McFarnon