Marc Chagall and Bella (Berta) got acquainted at the end of summer, 1909. In those days Bella had just returned 
from abroad. She was in Vienna and Berlin and came to her girl-friend Teja Brachman to share her impression. 
The parents of Teja and Bella were friends as well and Bella often dropped in to Teja. Teja's family was well-to-do,
the piano and violin often sounded in their home, theatre plays were staged there. Viktor Mekler, an artist and Chagall's
friend, may have introduced Marc to Teja. They got acquaintanted in St. Petersburg when Teja studied there. Teja 
posed to Marc Chagall as it was too expensive for him to hire a model. So Marc and Bella met in the house of Teja 
Brachman. 

    Later Bella Rosenfeld (Chagall) wrote in her memoirs, (I was surprised at his eyes, they were so blue as the sky. 
His eyes were unusual, not such as somebody's else- oblong, like almonds. I have never seen such eyes before except
in illustrations to tales about beasts. His mouth was opened a little - may be, he wanted to say something, may be, to
bite with his sharp, white teeth. All his movements were as movements of a lurk beast). (What is he thinking about?
I see a deep wrinkle cutting through his forehead. He is moving to me nearer. I'm lowering my eyes. Nobody is saying
anything. We both feel our hearts beating.) (The face of this boy lives inside me as my second ego, his voice is in my
ears. I met artists before but nobody had such appearance as he.) 

    The second meeting was at the bridge. Marc, Teja and her dog went for a walk and met Bella. (He is speaking to me
as if he meets me every day. He isn't frightful at all. He has calm, self-restrained voice. His curly hair is showing from 
under his hat. We are walking together, he isn't as frightful as I thought but he is strong as a peasant as if he takes his
force from a steel river). They began to meet and often walked along the bank of the Dvina-river. (I was so calm before.
I lived in the peace of our house, read books, avoided people as evil ghosts. But one time a young man has come and
broken the calmness of my days). 

    Bella Rosenfeld was born on the 15th of December, 1895 in Vitebsk. Her father was a merchant. She was the 
youngest in the family. She studied in a gymnasium and got an award for her academic achievements every year. 
Then she continued her education in one of the famous Moscow school for girls where she studied history, philosophy
and literature. Later she studied the art of acting in the studio of Stanislavsky. Her parents had three jeweler's shops in 
Vitebsk. 

    (I painted, painted and in one rainy evening I became a hero of a traditional wedding ceremony under the wedding
canopy exactly as it was in my pictures. I got benediction - all was done according to the traditions despite my
objections.) The wedding was on the 25th of July, 1915. From the first days of their marriage Marc Chagall always
took into consideration his to his wife's opinion. (I didn't finished any picture or engraving without her (Yes) or (No), 
wrote Chagall. A lot of Chagall's pictures are devoted to Bella:  (A Walk), (Over the Town), (The Wedding), (Green 
Lovers), (Blue Lovers), (Bella with Black Gloves), (Bella with a Violoncello), (Bella with a Shawl) and others. More