In his address delivered at the inauguration on 7 July 1973 - his 86th birthday - of the Musée national message biblique Marc Chagall in Nice, the artist described the meaning he found in Biblical stories:
“It has always seemed to me and still seems today the greatest source of poetry of all time.
Ever since then, I have searched for its reflection in life and in Art.
The Bible is like an echo of nature and this is the secret I have tried to convey”
- (quoted in J. Baal-Teshuva, ed., Chagall, A Retrospective, New York, 1995, p. 295).