art.wikisort.org - Painting

Le Clown au Cirque is a tempera and pen and ink on board painting by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall created in 1980.

Le Clown au Cirque
Artist	Marc Chagall
Year	1980 (1980)
Medium	tempera and pen and ink on board
Dimensions	46 cm × 54.6 cm (18 in × 21.5 in)
Owner	Private collection

Description

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 Post-Impressionist and Modern painters who featured the circus in their works are Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Rouault, Van Dongen and Léger.[4]

Provenance

• Chalk & Vermilion Fine Art, Greenwich
• Coast Galleries, Carmel
• Private Collection, Ohio (acquired in 2000)
• Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco
• Private Collection (acquired in 2015)

References

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