GEORGES SEURAT - 5

Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)

1887-1888 

There is so much to this painting, that I have used highlighting to identify the figures we see standing in front of us.  At first glance, I had nary a clue what the painting represented.  Like everything in life, the more we become aware....the better we see, understand and appreciate.  Artists are gifts to the rest of us.  They show us the world that they saw, and they speak to us through their work.  Many of them never knew the impact they'd have on the human population.

This painting represents the sideshow of the Circus Corvi held in a working area of eastern Paris in the spring of 1887.  Traveling circuses and seasonal fairs were a popular entertainment, appealing to aristocrats and commoners alike.  Sideshows were staged outside the circus tent, for free, to entice passersby to purchase tickets.  Note how Seurat placed the tree on the left to tell us this scene is taking place outdoors.

The trombonist is a man who stands on a platform in the center of the painting, wearing a conical hat.  Four faceless musicians with their instruments are set back from the trombonist.

Standing next to the trombonist is the buffoon or jester with a ruffled collar and is facing off with the ringmaster or barker.  (A barker stood in front of a show or carnival and encouraged people to buy tickets.)  The ringmaster is wearing a brownish tailcoat and is holding a cane under his left arm.  I enlarged my screen to clearly see the cane. 

Now, we have to look real close to see the diagonal line behind the trombone player that suggests a ramp leading to the circus stage where the circus performers (painted orange) are doing their thing.  Just for fun, count the number of horizontal and diagonal lines in this one painting.  Seurat plays with shapes in this work by placing sculpture-like figures next to other shapes in a grid-like rectangular background.  

The crowd of spectators is made up of a mix of men and women, who are represented by 13 shadowed heads at the bottom of the painting.  The left side shows working class people wearing bowler hats, while the right side shows bourgeois patrons wearing top hats and elaborate lady's hats.  Note how Seurat makes a societal statement by separating them.  Art exposes us to different eras and tells us what life was like back then.  Clearly, problems are part of being human.

Might this painting reflect the political climate in Paris at the time?  French art of the late 1800s used circus shows to spoof politicians who, just like the street performers, were selling something that lay obscured behind the curtain.  

The Circus Sideshow is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.