13 February, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. An organising committee for the celebration of Marc Chagall's 125th anniversary has been established in Vitebsk, Vladimir Terentyev, head of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Culture Department, informed a BELTA correspondent. The celebration of the renowned native's birthday in Vitebsk has become a cherished tradition. Although the artist's official birthday is July 6, he himself always celebrated it on July 7. Therefore, it is on this day that festive events, united under the common name "Visiting Marc and Bella," are held at the Marc Chagall House-Museum on Pokrovskaya Street. According to Vladimir Terentyev, this anniversary of the master will be widely celebrated. The organising committee includes Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya, director of the Marc Chagall Museum, and prominent cultural and art figures from Vitebsk. A discussion of the festive programme will take place at the end of February during an organising committee meeting. Marc Chagall's anniversary will also be celebrated in Russia. Exhibitions of his works dedicated to his 125th anniversary will be organised by the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk on June 24 (July 6, according to the new calendar) 1887. He studied at the local four-year school, and from 1906, at the art school of Vitebsk painter Yudel Pen. He subsequently studied drawing in Saint Petersburg and Paris. In 1918, the already famous artist was appointed Commissioner for Arts of the Vitebsk Governorate. Through Chagall's efforts, an art school, the People's Art College, was opened in Vitebsk in 1919. Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Ivan Puni, Ksenia Boguslavskaya, Vera Ermolaeva, El Lissitzky, and Kazimir Malevich were invited to teach there. In 1920, Marc Chagall left Vitebsk with his family, and in 1922, he left Soviet Russia forever. However, despite all the difficulties of his life in provincial Vitebsk, the artist maintained a fervent love and devotion to his native city until the end of his days. Vitebsk is constantly present in his paintings. "Like a sad wanderer – I have carried your breath in my paintings all these years," the master addressed his city during the difficult days of the fascist occupation.