Biography
Chaim Soutine — painter with roots in the Russian Empire
Chaim Soutine was a Lithuanian-born Jewish painter who became one of the leading Expressionists of the School of Paris. His violently distorted landscapes, meat carcasses, and portraits — painted with convulsive brushwork — influenced Francis Bacon and generations of figurative painters.
Russian Connection
Tracing the roots — Smilavichy (Minsk)
Born in the poverty-stricken shtetl of Smilavichy near Minsk (Russian Empire, now Belarus), Soutine escaped childhood poverty and religious restriction to reach Paris via Vilnius and St. Petersburg. His art is raw testimony to the rage and beauty carried out of the Pale of Settlement.
Family Tree
Subject
Chaim Soutine🇫🇷 France
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Self (Born there)
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Origin
Smilavichy (Minsk)🇷🇺 Russian Empire
Historical context
Russian Empire · c. 1721–1917
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Smilavichy (Minsk). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
Key Achievements
A career defined by ambition
01
Key figure of the Ecole de Paris alongside Modigliani and Chagall
02
Carcass of Beef paintings — seminal works of European Expressionism
03
Directly influenced Francis Bacon's distorted figurative style
04
La Femme en Rouge series
05
Works in collections of MoMA, Tate, Orangerie
"I want to express the terror of life. (attributed)"
Chaim Soutine
Sources