Le Clown au Cirque | |
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Artist | Marc Chagall |
Year | 1980 |
Medium | tempera and pen and ink on board |
Dimensions | 46 cm × 54.6 cm (18 in × 21.5 in) |
Owner | Private collection |
Le Clown au Cirque is a tempera and pen and ink on board painting by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall created in 1980. It is held in a private collection.
The painting depicts floating clowns amid the circus ring in the middle of the performance.[1] The subject of circus was dear to the artist.[2] Chagall often returned to the circus as a subject matter in his artworks.[3] He considered clowns, acrobats and actors as tragically human beings who are like characters in certain religious paintings.[4]
Among other contemporary painters who featured the circus in their works are Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Rouault, Van Dongen and Léger.[4]