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Le Grand Cirque (1968 painting)

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Le Grand Cirque (1968)
English: The Big Circus
ArtistMarc Chagall
Year1968 (1968)
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions160 cm × 170.2 cm (63 in × 67.0 in)
Ownerprivate collection

Le Grand Cirque is a 1968 oil on canvas painting by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall.

Description

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On this painting, Chagall focuses on the ring or center stage as a mythical winged figures looks down upon the spectacle from on high.[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] Le Grand Cirque (1968) is considered Chagall’s most grand exploration of the circus as a subject for his paintings.[5]

Provenance

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Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York acquired the painting from the artist shortly after he completed it.[1] The painting was first exhibited in New York in December 1968, and then was kept in Pierre Matisse Gallery’s collection for several years, exhibiting at some of the most important retrospectives of the artist’s work, including the definitive exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1985.[5] In May 1998, the painting was sold to private collection at Sotheby’s, New York.[1]

Exhibitions

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Marc Chagall, LE GRAND CIRQUE". Sotheby's. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  2. ^ GUIVARCH-TONNARD, Aourell (2016-06-23). "Chagall, de la poésie à la peinture, exposé à Landerneau". Ouest-France.fr (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  3. ^ Venturi, Lionello (1994). Chagall. Genève: A. Skira. p. 39. ISBN 2-605-00267-5. OCLC 233992792.
  4. ^ a b Chagall : a retrospecitve. Marc Chagall, Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates. [New York]: Hugh Lauter Levin Assoc., Inc. 1995. pp. 196–198. ISBN 0-88363-495-3. OCLC 33471293.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ a b "From Impressionism To Pop Art" (PDF). Opera Gallery. Retrieved 2021-02-24.