Bella Rosenfeld

Bella Rosenfeld Chagall (; ; 14 December 1889 – 2 September 1944) was a Russian Jewish writer and the first wife of painter Marc Chagall. She was the subject of many of Chagall's paintings including Bella au col blanc (Bella with White Collar) in 1917, and appears posthumously in Bouquet près de la fenêtre, painted in 1959–1960.

Biography Basia-Reiza "Bella" Rosenfeld was born on 14 December 1889, in Vitebsk (present-day Belarus), into a wealthy Jewish family of jewellers.

She met Marc Chagall in 1909 who at that time was a penniless apprentice of Léon Bakst. According to Marc, their love started the moment they saw each other and continued for 35 years. Chagall painted his first portrait of her that same year: My Fiancée with Black Gloves (Kunstmuseum Basel). They married in 1915 and moved to Petrograd. The following year she gave birth to their daughter, Ida. In 1918 they returned to Vitebsk and four years later, in 1922, they emigrated to Lithuania and then on to Germany. By 1924 they were living in Paris. In 1939, they moved to the south of France where they were arrested in 1941. They fled to the United States where Rosenfeld died of a bacterial infection on 2 September 1944.

Posthumously, her most famous book, The Burning Lights, was published in 1946. In 1993 she appeared, together with Chagall, on a Belarus stamp. A play Birthday about the Chagalls' relationship, was written by Emma Rice, Nikki Sved and Daniel Jamieson in the 1990s. It was rewritten and became The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk.

Works

with afterword by Marc Chagall

In Chagall's art

Rosenfeld was referenced to, or appeared in the following paintings by Chagall: My fiancé with black gloves (1909) To my betrothed (1911) The birthday (1915) Bella and Ida by the window (1916) The walk (1917) Bella au col blanc (Bella with White Collar) (1917) Over the town (1917–1918) The wedding (1917–1918) Double portrait with a wine glass (1917–1918) Bella in Mourillon (1925) To my wife (1933/1944) Bella in green (1934) Bouquet with flying lovers (1934/1947) Bouquet près de la fenêtre (1959–1960)