Le Cirque
/
Georges Seurat
(1859 -
1891)
Niveau supérieur,
Salle 38
Artwork location
Coming after Parade and Cancan, Circus was the third panel in a series by Seurat on the popular attractions of the modern city and its late-night entertainment.
The circus theme was often covered in the 1880s, especially by Renoir, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. But Circus is seen as one of the most impressive applications of Divisionist theory. In it, Seurat interprets Charles Henry's theories on the psychological effects of line and colour as well those on optical mixing of colours formulated by Chevreul and Rood.
When the painting was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891, one critic observed that "everything in Circus achieves harmony through analogy, through the conciliation of opposites, conspiring towards a sense of gaiety: ascending lines, successive tone contrasts, pronounced dominance of orange, highlighted by a frame which creates an opposition of tone and colour with the whole...".
Two spaces are juxtaposed: the space for the stage and the artistes, all curves, stylised arabesques and spirals, filled with dynamic tension, or imbalance even; and the space for the seating and the public, rigid, orthogonal, motionless, strictly geometrical. The colour scheme also obeys precise rules: the primordial colour, that of pure light, white, dominates the canvas. The palette then harmonises the three primary colours: red, yellow and blue, modulated in small methodical brushstrokes echoing the rhythm of the lines. Finally Seurat isolates his painting both with a dark border painted directly on to the canvas and a flat frame in the same shade of blue, making it an integral part of the work.
With this unfinished painting – the painter died of diphtheria a few days after the Salon opened - Seurat was seeking to create a symbiosis between artistic creation and scientific analysis, a subject of great popular interest in the 19th century.
The circus theme was often covered in the 1880s, especially by Renoir, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. But Circus is seen as one of the most impressive applications of Divisionist theory. In it, Seurat interprets Charles Henry's theories on the psychological effects of line and colour as well those on optical mixing of colours formulated by Chevreul and Rood.
When the painting was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891, one critic observed that "everything in Circus achieves harmony through analogy, through the conciliation of opposites, conspiring towards a sense of gaiety: ascending lines, successive tone contrasts, pronounced dominance of orange, highlighted by a frame which creates an opposition of tone and colour with the whole...".
Two spaces are juxtaposed: the space for the stage and the artistes, all curves, stylised arabesques and spirals, filled with dynamic tension, or imbalance even; and the space for the seating and the public, rigid, orthogonal, motionless, strictly geometrical. The colour scheme also obeys precise rules: the primordial colour, that of pure light, white, dominates the canvas. The palette then harmonises the three primary colours: red, yellow and blue, modulated in small methodical brushstrokes echoing the rhythm of the lines. Finally Seurat isolates his painting both with a dark border painted directly on to the canvas and a flat frame in the same shade of blue, making it an integral part of the work.
With this unfinished painting – the painter died of diphtheria a few days after the Salon opened - Seurat was seeking to create a symbiosis between artistic creation and scientific analysis, a subject of great popular interest in the 19th century.
Artist(s)
Title(s)
titre principal : Le Cirque
titre principal : Le Cirque
Date
1891
Others accession number
Accession number
RF 2511
Description
huile sur toile
Dimensions
H. 186,0 ; L. 152,0 cm.
avec cadre H. 232 ; L. 198,5 cm
avec cadre H. 232 ; L. 198,5 cm
Designation
tableau
Place of conservation
musée d'Orsay
- collection Mme Seurat mère
- collection Emile Seurat et Léon Appert
- 1900, dans la collection Paul Signac
- jusqu'en 1924, dans la collection John Quinn
- 1927, accepté par l'Etat à titre de legs de John Quinn pour le musée du Louvre (comité du 16/10/1924, conseil du 01/03/1926, arrêté du 21/05/1927)
- 1927, attribué au musée du Louvre, Paris (entrée matérielle en 1926)
- de 1929 à 1939, musée du Luxembourg, Paris
- de 1939 à 1947, musée national d'Art moderne, Paris
- de 1947 à 1977, musée du Louvre, galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris
- 1977, affecté au musée d'Orsay, Paris
Modality of acquisition
legs
Acquistion Date
1927
- Salon de la Société des artistes indépendants. 7e exposition - Pavillon de la Ville de Paris - France, Paris, 1891, n°1102
- XII Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della città di Venezia. Biennale di Venezia - organisme inconnu - Italie, Venise, 1920
- L'Impressionnisme - palais des Beaux-Arts - 1935
- Exposition d'Art français - Kunsthalle Bern - Suisse, Berne, 1946
- Seurat : Paintings and Drawings - The Art Institute of Chicago - Etats-Unis, Chicago, 1958
- Les sources du XXème siècle - les arts en Europe de 1884 à 1914 - musée national d'art moderne - 1960-1961
- Préfiguration du musée d'Orsay - Le Post-Impressionnisme - palais de Tokyo - musée d'Art et d'Essai - France, Paris, 1977-1986
- Seurat - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - France, Paris, 1991, p. 409-412
- Signac, 1863-1935 - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - France, Paris, 2001
- Le néo-impressionnisme de Seurat à Paul Klee - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 2005
- Georges Seurat. Figur im Raum - Kunsthaus Zürich - Suisse, Zurich, 2009-2010, n°74
- Georges Seurat. Figur im Raum - Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt - Allemagne, Francfort-sur-le-Main, 2010, n°74
- Seurat. Master of Pointillism - Kröller-Müller Museum - Pays-Bas, Otterlo, 2014
- Signac collectionneur - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 2021-2022
General bibliography
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Rewald, John ; Dorra, Henri, Seurat - L'oeuvre peint, biographie et catalogue critique, Paris, Les Beaux-Arts, 1959, n°211
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Hauke, César-M. de, Seurat et son oeuvre, Paris, Gründ, 1961, n°213
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Minervino, Fiorella ; Chastel, André, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Seurat, Paris, Flammarion, 1973, n°215
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(dir.) Cogeval, Guy, Le Musée d'Orsay à 360 degrés, Paris, Skira ; Flammarion ; Musée d'Orsay, 2013, p. 214
Exposition catalog
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Catalogo della XIIe Esposizione internazionale d'arte della città di Venezia, cat. exp. (Venise, 1920), Venise, [s.n.], 1920, n° 53
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Rich, Daniel Catton ; Herbert, Robert Louis, Seurat : Paintings and Drawings, cat. exp. (Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, du 16/01/1958 au 07/03/1958 ; New York, Museum of Modern Art, du 24/03/1958 au 11/05/1958), Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 1958, n° 152
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Cassou, Jean (dir.) ; Châtelet, Albert (dir.) ; Pevsner, Nicolas ; Langui, E, Les sources du XXe siècle : les arts en Europe de 1884 à 1914, cat. exp. (Paris, musée national d'art moderne, du 04/11/1960 au 23/01/1961), Paris, musée national d'art moderne, 1960, n° 661
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Herbert, Robert L. ; Harris, Neil ; Druick, Douglas W. ; Groom, Gloria ; Zuccari, Frank, Seurat and the making of 'La Grande Jatte', cat. exp. (Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, du 16 juin au 19 septembre 2004), Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 2004, fig. 13, p. 24 ; pp. 135-137 ; p. 146 (reprod. coul.) ; p. 244
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Jooren, Marieke ; Veldink, Suzanne ; Berger, Helewise, Seurat - Maître du pointillisme, cat. exp. (Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, du 23 mai au 7 septembre 2014), Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, 2014, pp. 16-17 ; p. 36 (reprod. coul.) ; pp. 66-67 (reprod. coul.) ; pp. 94-95 (reprod. coul.) ; p. 130
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Frank, Frédéric ; Ferretti-Bocquillon, Marina ; Westheider, Ortrud ; Dupouy, Raphaël ; Haudiquet, Annette ; Nonne, Monique, Henri-Edmond Cross. Peindre le bonheur, cat. exp. (Giverny, musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, du 27/07/2018 au 04/11/2018 ; Potsdam, Museum Barberini, du 17/11/2018 au 17/02/2019), Munich, Prestel, 2018, fig. 1, p. 10 (reprod. coul.)
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Cahn, Isabelle ; Peltier, Philippe, Félix Fénéon. Critique, collectionneur, anarchiste, cat. exp. (Paris, Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, du 27/05/2019 au 06/10/2019 ; Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, du 15/10/2019 au 28/01/2020 ; New-York, MoMA, du 22/03/2020 au 26/07/2020), Paris, Réunion des Musées nationaux, 2019, fig. 41, pp. 74-76 ; pp. 100-102 ; p. 177 (reprod. coul.)
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Ferretti-Bocquillon, Marina ; Hellmann, Charlotte, Signac collectionneur , cat. exp. (Paris, Musée d’Orsay, du 12 octobre 2021 au 13 février 2022), Paris, Gallimard, 2021, cat. 85, p. 117 (reprod. coul.) ; p. 21 ; p. 23 ; p. 26 ; p. 28 ; p. 31 ; p. 40 ; p. 100 ; pp.108-110 ; p.119
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Gerritse, Bregje ; N. Coutré, Jacquelyn, Van Gogh and the avant-Garde : along the Seine, cat. exp. (Chicago, The Art Institute, du 14 mai au 4 septembre 2023), Bussum, Toth Publishers, 2023, fig. 155, p. 164 ; pp. 166-167 ; p. 180 ; p. 181 (reprod. coul.)
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Serrano, Véronique, On sort ! Les loisirs avec Bonnard et son époque, cat. exp. (Le Cannet, Musée Bonnard, du 1er juillet au 5 novembre 2023), Milan, Silviana editoriale, 2023, ill. 1, p. 134 (reprod. coul.) ; pp. 137-139
Summary catalog
-
Compin, Isabelle ; Roquebert, Anne, Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures du Musée du Louvre et du Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1986, vol.4, p.211
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Compin, Isabelle [coordination] ; Lacambre, Geneviève [coordination] ; Roquebert, Anne, Musée d'Orsay. Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1990, vol.2, p.423
Material and technique
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