Marc Chagall. Matières — CAP, Museum of Fine Arts, Mons

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is remembered for his paintings: the floating lovers, the violinists, the blue villages. The exhibition that opens at CAP, the Museum of Fine Arts of Mons, on 10 October 2026 looks at the other half of his work. Marc Chagall. Matières brings together more than 200 works and objects, and most of them are not canvases.

Alongside the paintings hang prints, sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, engraved and painted glass, ballet costumes and stage designs. Tools, working materials, preparatory studies and archive documents show how the pieces were made. Chagall did not work alone in these media. He built long partnerships with ceramists, stone carvers, tapestry weavers and master glassmakers, and the exhibition follows those collaborations as closely as the finished works.

The curators, Cecilia Braschi and Ambre Gauthier, who directs the Marc and Ida Chagall Archives in Paris, trace the sources of this craft back to Russian folk and religious art, to the Mediterranean, and to the pre-Hispanic objects Chagall saw in Mexico. Works from the City of Mons’ own collections of old art, ethnography and folk art are set beside his, and around fifteen contemporary ceramic and textile pieces chosen by the BeCraft association carry the conversation into the present.

CAP stands on rue Neuve, a few minutes’ walk from the Grand-Place and from the Belfry of Mons, the Baroque tower on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Practical details

• When: 10 October 2026 to 14 February 2027
• Where: CAP / Museum of Fine Arts, Rue Neuve 8, 7000 Mons, Belgium
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–18:00
• Admission: €17 adults; €12 seniors; €2 children and students; Article 27 rate available
• Tickets and information: online booking · +32 65 33 55 80 · cap.mons.be
• Organised by: the City of Mons, in partnership with the Marc and Ida Chagall Archives
• Curators: Cecilia Braschi and Ambre Gauthier

Guided tours, sensory visits, film screenings and talks run throughout the exhibition. See also the Belfry of Mons. Cultural Heritage Online lists this exhibition for readers planning a winter trip to Wallonia.