Chagall's famed 'Fiddler' painted on a tablecloth - researchers

Conservators Meta Chavannes and Madeleine Bisschoff speak about a study on a collection of Marc Chagall's artwork in the conservation atelier of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands September 13, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Marc Chagall, the 20th century French-Russian artist who delighted fans with his vividly coloured, whimsical works, did many of his paintings using the same nine pigments - and hardly ever used black, researchers said on Friday.

He was also so poor early on that his famed 1912 work "Fiddler" - a picture of a violinist dancing on a rooftop - was painted on a tablecloth when Chagall was a struggling Jewish immigrant in Paris.