Planning a Marc Chagall Unit Study to enjoy with your kids? We’ve got a collection of resources to help you explore this master painter’s life, work, and legacy.
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With all of the available books, videos, and project ideas, there are lots of kid-friendly resources to include in a Marc Chagall Unit Study. Here are the ones we found to be the most helpful.
Marc Chagall Unit Study Resources
While there are several excellent resources for introducing his work, the web is a particularly great place to learn about Chagall. The following sites provide a solid foundation on which to build your Marc Chagall Unit Study.
- Marc Chagall National Museum in France – Along with its sister site, this one offers full biographies on Chagall, lots of photos, and info about his greatest and lesser-known works.
- You’ll find a huge virtual gallery of Chagall’s work waiting for you at MoMA’s Chagall profile.
- Google Arts and Culture has a brief Chagall biography, images of his works, and a few detailed stories that explore his work.
- The Art Institute of Chicago’s Chagall page features a short bio and a considerable gallery of his work, including images of Chagall’s stained glass America Windows installed at the Institute. (You can do a deep dive on this installation with your students through their Chagall educator resource packet.)
- Making Art Fun’s Marc Chagall page features a printable biography on Chagall, word search, and artist profile worksheet.
Books about Marc Chagall
Beyond the web, books are a great way to learn about Chagall’s life and work. You can check out my full Marc Chagall book list to get all of my recommendations, but here are my top suggestions.
- Papa Chagall, Tell Us a Story – In this picture book from Laurence Anholt’s Artists Books for Children series, readers meet Chagall and listen to him share stories about his life and work with his grandchildren. This book also includes several reproductions of his work, so the mix of story and art is a nice way to introduce younger kiddos to Chagall.
- Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists: Marc Chagall – This title from Mike Venezia is a nice nonfiction option for learning about Chagall. It includes images, illustrations, and a nice overview of his life and art.
- Chagall: My Sad and Joyous Village – This is an older title I originally discovered through my library several years ago, but it’s a good reading option for those looking for a comprehensive but kid-friendly overview of Chagall’s career. Worth noting, it’s a good bit longer than the options listed above, so it’s ideal for older kids and middle schoolers.
What to Watch: Videos about Marc Chagall
YouTube is another great resource for learning about Marc Chagall. While there’s no shortage of video options out there, these are my three favorites.
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Marc Chagall: A Quick Journey through His Life and Art by Art in 5 – Exactly what it sounds like, this video is an overview of Chagall’s life and art.
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Artbx.org Presents Marc Chagall! – This video provides a kid-friendly biography of Chagall’s life, complete with a timeline and many images for review. It also includes a tutorial for a Chagall-inspired drawing.
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Persecution, Exile, Confrontation; Marc Chagall the Painter of Love and Light from Art History School – This video is longer and goes into greater detail about Chagall’s career as an artist, including the persecution he experienced as a Jewish artist. This makes it an ideal viewing choice for older kiddos or teens and tweens.
Marc Chagall Unit Study Activities
In addition to reading and watching, it’s ideal to add some art study to the mix. Consider adding one, two, or all of these activities to your unit study lineup.
- Paris Through the Window Lesson from Guggenheim – This lesson on color and place provides info about this painting (one of my favorites from Chagall) and reflection questions about the work.
- Celebrations Lesson – Another Guggenheim lesson, this one encourages students to analyze Green Violinist. It also provides information about the painting and others with related themes, along with reflection questions.
- Radial Design Art Mashup Activity – We have great memories of creating Chagall-inspired radial design wheels. They allowed us to study Chagall’s colorful world and infuse it into our own designs.
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Crayola’s Chagall’s Perspective Lesson – This prompts students to review Chagall’s work and celebrate things that are meaningful to them in compositions that mimic Chagall’s notable works.
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Between these books, links, and activity suggestions, you should have everything you need to explore Marc Chagall’s incredible body of work and artistic legacy through your Chagall unit study.
Looking for more unit study resources for the master artists? You’ll want to check out these unit study posts: