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Georges Seurat, Le Cirque, 1890 (Musee d'Orsay) |
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Jules Cheret, Hippodrome de la PorteMaillot, Paris Courses, 1890 |
Theatrical subject matters like the circus were also a favorite with Degas, who also might have had an influence on Seurat's selection of this particular motif.
This painting with all its upward moving diagonals and warm colors, all of which would have suggested a happy and uplifting experience, in actuality could have been a critique of spectatorship. The audience seems to be unresponsive to the spectacle that was taking place in front of their eyes. This was a time when people of all classes were looking to find entertainments in a city like Paris that in itself had become a spectacle as T. J. Clark called it in his book, The Painting of Modern Life.
Seurat applied Henry Chevreul's theory of the balancing contrasting colors to create harmony by painting a blue frame to the predominantly yellow color of this picture.
Observing how Seurat has flattened the picture plane even more than his previous works and the different points of perspective offered within the painting and the juxtaposition of the different concerns throughout the history of art being incorporated in his own unique vision makes me wonder what was next if he had lived a longer life.
spectacular
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