Circus Sideshow by Georges Seurat - 1887-1888 - 99.7 x 149.9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art Circus Sideshow by Georges Seurat - 1887-1888 - 99.7 x 149.9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art

Circus Sideshow

oil on canvas • 99.7 x 149.9 cm
  • Georges Seurat - December 2, 1859 - March 29, 1891 Georges Seurat 1887-1888

Circus Sideshow (or Parade de Cirque ) is one of six major figure paintings that Seurat produced during his short career. More compact than his other mural-size compositions and more mysterious in its allure, Seurat's first nocturnal painting debuted at the 1888 Salon des Indépendants in Paris. On a balustraded stage, under the misty glow of nine twinkling gaslights, a ringmaster (at right) and musicians (at left) play to a crowd of potential ticket buyers, whose assorted hats add a wry and rhythmic note to the foreground. Circus Sideshow represents the first important painting Seurat devoted to a scene of popular entertainment.