Le Grand Cirque is an oil and gouache on canvas painting by Belarusian-French artist
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
created in 1956.
Description
The canvas features acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns.
The subject of circus was dear to the artist. Chagall often returned to the circus as a subject matter in his artworks. He considered clowns, acrobats and actors as tragically human beings who are like characters in certain religious paintings.
Among other
Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...
and
Modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
painters who featured the circus in their works are
Georges Seurat,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Georges Rouault
Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism.
Childhood and education
Rouault was born in Paris into a po ...
,
Kees van Dongen
Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauvism, Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually ...
, and
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
.
Provenance
At least until 1974 ''Le Grand Cirque'' was in a property of Gustave Stern Foundation, New York.
In 2007 the painting was acquired from the Gustave Stern Foundation and Sold at
Sotheby’s, New York for $13.8 million, becoming a part of private collection in Switzerland.
In 2017, the painting was sold for $16 million, to an Asian telephone bidder.
Exhibitions
* Bern,
Kunsthalle
A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection.
In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
, Marc Chagall, Oeuvres de 1950 à 1956, 1956, no. 46
* Basel,
Kunsthalle
A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection.
In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
, Oeuvres des 25 dernières années, 1956, no. 61
* Paris,
Galerie Maeght
The Galerie Maeght is a gallery of modern art in Paris, France, and Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The gallery was founded in 1936 in Cannes. The Paris gallery was started in 1946 by Aimé Maeght. The artists exhibited are mainly from France and Spa ...
, Marc Chagall, 1957, no. 5
*Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts & Amsterdam,
Stedelijk Museum
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. , L'oeuvre des dernières années, 1956-57, no. 147
*Hamburg, Kunstverein im Hamburg; Munich, Haus der Kunst & Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Marc Chagall, 1959, no. 166, illustrated in the catalogue
*Paris,
Musée des arts décoratifs, Exposition Marc Chagall, 1959, no. 174
*South Bend, Indiana,
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
Art Gallery, 1965
*Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Hommage à Marc Chagall, 1967, no. 46, illustrated in the catalogue
*Zürich,
Kunsthaus (on loan)
*Jerusalem,
The Israel Museum
The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
, Chagall in Israel, 2002-03
See also
*
List of artworks by Marc Chagall
*
1956 in art
Events from the year 1956 in art.
Events
*March 1 – Replica statue of the ''Discus Thrower'' dedicated in Washington, D.C., as a gift from the Italian government to commemorate the return of looted art objects after World War II.
*March &ndas ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Cirque (1956 painting), Le
1956 paintings
Paintings by Marc Chagall
Clowns in art