Magnet Marc Chagall - Blue Circus, 1950

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Blue Circus, 1950
Oil on canvas, 232,5 cm x 175,8 cm
Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de Création industrielle, Centre Georges Pompidou, on deposit to the Marc Chagall National Museum.
Photo © RMN-GP / Gérard Blot
© ADAGP, Paris

The Blue Circus represents an acrobat on...

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Blue Circus, 1950
Oil on canvas, 232,5 cm x 175,8 cm
Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de Création industrielle, Centre Georges Pompidou, on deposit to the Marc Chagall National Museum.
Photo © RMN-GP / Gérard Blot
© ADAGP, Paris

The Blue Circus represents an acrobat on her trapeze, under the beam of a spotlight. The nocturnal atmosphere is highlighted by the presence of a moon in the middle right, both in front and in profile. Several hybrid figures participate in the scene: at the top left, a flying fish, a traditional Chagallian animal, throws a bouquet of flowers with one hand protruding from its side. On the right, a musical rooster plays the bass drum. At the bottom of the painting, a large green horse, the color of love in Chagall, completes the representation.

Built around the diagonal of the ray of light, the movement of the acrobat and the relationships of the colored masses form a circle in the center of the painting: red of the acrobat's clothing, green of the horse, yellow of the moon, releasing a central void, without pattern which suggests a silent pause in the middle of the noisy spectacle of the circus.