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Circus Sideshow
In stock
SKU
WMET0049
Our Inspiration: Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)
Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891)
Oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 59 in., 1887–88
Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 61.101.17
At the Salon des Indépendants in 1888, Seurat demonstrated the versatility of his technique by exhibiting Circus Sideshow, a nighttime outdoor scene in artificial light, and Models, an indoor, daylit scene (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia). This is Seurat’s first nocturnal painting and the first to depict popular entertainment. It represents the parade, or sideshow, of the Circus Corvi at the annual Gingerbread Fair, held in eastern Paris around the Place de la Nation in spring 1887. Sideshows were staged outside the circus tent, for free, to entice passersby to purchase tickets. The onlookers at the far right are queued on stairs leading to the box office.
Our Inspiration: Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)
Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891)
Oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 59 in., 1887–88
Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 61.101.17
At the Salon des Indépendants in 1888, Seurat demonstrated the versatility of his technique by exhibiting Circus Sideshow, a nighttime outdoor scene in artificial light, and Models, an indoor, daylit scene (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia). This is Seurat’s first nocturnal painting and the first to depict popular entertainment. It represents the parade, or sideshow, of the Circus Corvi at the annual Gingerbread Fair, held in eastern Paris around the Place de la Nation in spring 1887. Sideshows were staged outside the circus tent, for free, to entice passersby to purchase tickets. The onlookers at the far right are queued on stairs leading to the box office.