I was thrilled to hear that the art of Marc Chagall was leaving its home at the Centre Pompidou in Paris for a short stay at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The exhibition, entitled Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde was not only a tribute to the artist and his work, but also other Russian artists such as Vassily Kandinsky, Alexei Jawensky, Natalia Goncharova and Alexander Archipenko, among others. Most were from Vitebsk and the Ukraine, former regions of the Russian Empire.
The combined works of these artists depict a world that is simultaneously surrealistic and thought provoking. This form of art was prolific between 1890 and 1930, although some experts would argue that the movement lasted much longer.