1889 Basia-Reiza "Bella" Rosenfeld[2] was born into the wealthy Jewish family of a Vitebsk jeweler.
1909 She met Marc Chagall, at that time, a penniless apprentice of Léon Bakst. According to Marc, their love started the moment they saw each other and continued for 35 years. Chagall painted his first portrait of her that same year: My Fiancée with Black Gloves (Kunstmuseum Basel).[3]
1922 they emigrated to Lithuania and then to Germany.
1924 they moved to Paris.
1939 they moved to the south of France
1941 arrested in Marseille and then fled to the United States
2 September 1944 Bella died from a bacterial infection
1946 Posthumously, Bella Chagall's most famous book, The Burning Lights, was published.
The Burning Lights. Translation by Norbert Guterman. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1946. 268 pp.8vo, with thirty-six black and white illustrations by Marc Chagall.
Brenendike likht (The Burning Lights), with drawings by Marc Chagall. New York: Book League of the Jewish People's Fraternal Order, IWO, 1945. Yiddish. 254 pp.
Di ershte bagegenish (The First Encounter), with drawings by Marc Chagall. New York: Book League of the Jewish People's Fraternal Order, IWO, 1947. Yiddish. 230 pp.
Shishanov V. «These young people were socialists …». Participants of revolutionary movement in Marc Chagall and Belly Rozenfeld's environment // Bulletin of the Museum of Marc Chagall. 2005. No.13. P. 64–74.
Shishanov, V. «Wishing to arrive...» (Documents on study Belly Rozenfeld on the Moscow higher female courses)// The Chagalovsky sbornik. Release. 3. Materials X – XIV Chagalovsky readings in Vitebsk (2000–2004). Minsk: «Riftur», 2008. P.176-182.
