Le Grand Cirque (1956 painting) explained

Le Grand Cirque (1956)
Artist:	Marc Chagall
Medium:	Oil on canvas
Height Metric:	159.5
Length Metric:	308.5
Owner:	private collection

Le Grand Cirque is an oil and gouache on canvas painting by Belarusian-French artist Marc Chagall created in 1956.

Description

The canvas features acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns.^[1] The subject of circus was dear to the artist.^[2] Chagall often returned to the circus as a subject matter in his artworks.^[3] He considered clowns, acrobats and actors as tragically human beings who are like characters in certain religious paintings.^[4] Among other Post-Impressionist and Modern painters who featured the circus in their works are Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, Kees van Dongen, and Fernand Léger.

Provenance

At least until 1974 Le Grand Cirque was in a property of Gustave Stern Foundation, New York.^[5] 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.^[6] In 2017, the painting was sold for $16 million, to an Asian telephone bidder.

Exhibitions

• Bern, Kunsthalle, Marc Chagall, Oeuvres de 1950 à 1956, 1956, no. 46
• Basel, Kunsthalle, Oeuvres des 25 dernières années, 1956, no. 61
• Paris, Galerie Maeght, Marc Chagall, 1957, no. 5
• Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts & Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 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 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, Chagall in Israel, 2002-03

See also

• List of artworks by Marc Chagall
• 1956 in art

Notes and References

1. News: Pogrebin. Robin. Reyburn. Scott. 2017-11-15. Chagall's Romantic Love Story Leads Sotheby's Impressionist Sale (Published 2017). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-02-20. 0362-4331.
2. Web site: GUIVARCH-TONNARD. Aourell. 2016-06-23. Chagall, de la poésie à la peinture, exposé à Landerneau. 2021-02-20. Ouest-France.fr. fr.
3. Book: Venturi, Lionello. Chagall. 1994. A. Skira. 2-605-00267-5. Genève. 39. 233992792.
4. Book: Chagall : a retrospecitve. 1995. Hugh Lauter Levin Assoc., Inc. Marc Chagall, Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates. 0-88363-495-3. [New York]. 196–198. 33471293.
5. Web site: Marc Chagall, LE GRAND CIRQUE. 2021-02-20. Sotheby's.
6. Web site: 2017-10-04. Will This Rare Marc Chagall Painting Break a 27-Year-Old Auction Record?. 2021-02-20. Artnet News. en-US.