A new series of limited edition prints from paintings by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) are now on exhibit for the first time in the West Coast at Coast Galleries in Big Sur, Carmel and Pebble Beach, California.

Published under the auspices of the Chagall family estate (ADAGP Paris), the prints bear the embossed signature of the artist and the official seals of the publisher and the Chagall Estate. Although all of the paintings have appeared in numerous international art books, none of these images have been previously produced as limited edition prints.

Russian-born Chagall immigrated to France in 1922 where he spent the next twenty years painting in Paris. He lived in the United States between 1941 and 1948 where "I found there a feeling of youth", then returned to "my real home" in France until his death in 1985 at age 97.

Chagall is regarded as an inventive surrealist and is one of the most significant painters of the twentieth century. His signature use of color and images has roots in Russian Expressionism as influenced by French Cubism. Although his dream-like paintings combine folklore and fantasy, often of Jewish subjects his larger vision portrays love, freedom and biblical themes.

Pablo Picasso said, "Chagall is the only painter who really understands what colour is". Henry Miller described him as "a poet with the wings of a painter". But of color Chagall said, "In life, just as on the artist's palette, there is but one single colour that gives meaning to life and art--the colour of love."

Chagall is known for such dream-like images as a bride and groom floating in front of the Eiffel tower and surrounded by vibrantly colorful flowers, birds and animals. He drew upon his Jewish cultural heritage for many of his images, including synagogues, cemeteries, weddings and a fiddler on the roof, a character who was his uncle in real life.

The collection also includes serigraphs reproduced from the stained glass windows Chagall created for the Hadassah Synagogue. At the 1962 dedication he spoke of the joy he felt in bringing "my modest gift to the Jewish people, who have always dreamt of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all people; to that people who lived here, thousands of years ago, among other Semitic people. My hope is that I hereby extend my hand to seekers of culture, to poets and to artists among the neighboring people."

As one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, Chagall's paintings are hung in every major museum and art collection in the world. Coast Galleries is grateful to the Chagall Estate for permitting the release of these limited edition prints and is honored to represent this historic Chagall collection.