“For myself… there is something magic about the circus… it’s a world in itself… The most intense cry in relation to man’s search for amusement or joy often takes on the form of the highest poetry”
Marc Chagall

The circus is prevalent throughout Marc Chagall’s oeuvre. His interest in the circus began at a young age, where in his native village of Vitebsk travelling acrobats would perform. Interest in carnival and the burlesque was common within the early 20th century Russian avant-garde. In his very early paintings from the turn of the century the motif of circus performers appear, and continue to do so throughout his career. In 1926, Chagall’s great friend and dealer Ambrose Vollard offered the artist regular use of his box at the famous Cirque d'Hiver in Paris. This led to Vollard’s commissioning of nineteen gouaches, later translated into prints, entitled ‘Cirque Vollard’.

In 1956, when shooting a film about Cirque d’Hiver in Vence where Chagall had settled in 1950, the artist began a series of circus motifs, this time emboldened with the warm colours of the Mediterranean. Painted in 1966, ‘Deux profils verts au cirque’ is from this mature period of Chagall’s art, encapsulating his unwavering enthusiasm for the circus and the bright tones of the South of France. The same year he painted ‘Deux profils verts au cique’, Chagall wrote of how “These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have made themselves at home in my visions. Why? Why am I so touched by their make-up and their grimaces? With them I can move towards new horizons”. In the present work these performers have filled Chagall’s mind in a burst of vivid colour, with the faces appearing vision-like in the sky. Chagall mixes fantasy with reality, in a burst of energy and excitement.

Chagall’s circus works are amongst his most prized with many international museums holding examples. Such institutions include National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (‘L’Écuyère’, 1949-53) and Tate, UK (‘The Blue Circus’, 1950).