Le Clown au Cirque

Le Clown au Cirque is a tempera and pen and ink on board painting by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall created in 1980. It is held in a private collection.

Description
The painting depicts floating clowns amid the circus ring in the middle of the performance. 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 contemporary painters who featured the circus in their works are Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Rouault, Van Dongen and Léger.

Provenance

 * Chalk & Vermilion Fine Art, Greenwich
 * Coast Galleries, Carmel
 * Private Collection, Ohio (acquired in 2000)
 * Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco
 * Private Collection (acquired in 2015)