The exhibition examines the artistic and social development of Chagall, Picasso, Mondrian and a number of other known and lesser-known artist-migrants in Paris in the years 1900-1950, in the context of a cultural and political climate in which, for many years, freedom, openness and cosmopolitanism battled against nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. It is a story of otherness, of what connects us, and of finding your way in a polarised society and art world.

This presentation provides visitors with a chance to explore the work of these artists from a migrant background from a fresh perspective. With paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and design by artists including Chagall, Picasso, Mondriaan, Van Dongen, Sluijters, Severini, Sonia Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, Pascin, Zadkine, Soutine, Lipchitz, Arp, Ernst, Man Ray, Foujita, Germaine Krull, Gisele Freund, Nicholas Warb (= Sophia Warburg), Marlow Moss, Kandinsky, Rivera, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Appel. In galleries featuring historical film fragments and music, visitors are able to experience the mood of the era. Another exhibition highlight are eight paintings, five gouaches and a selection of 30 drawings and prints by Chagall in the Stedelijk Museum collection, on view here for the first time in 70 years.