When most people think of paintings by Georges Seurat, the French pointillist painter, they probably think first of his famous painting,Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte which is probably remembered by many as Sunday In the Park With George , from the Stephen Sondheim play which revolves around the Seurat painting. For me, the Seurat paintings that spring to mind are a couple of his pieces that revolve around the circus, such as the one at the top of this post, Circus Sideshow.
For me, this painting just has magical, mysterious feel. I can imagine the tinny sound of the musicians, a kind Kurt Weill/Threepenny Opera quiet cacophony. The composition of this piece also reads very easily into my brain and I find myself excited by it to the point of envisioning work of my own that will borrow from the light and dark blocking of the piece, the way the figures are between dark borders formed by the patterned edge at the top and the shadowy people at the bottom.
While I can appreciate many paintings just for what they are and their own sheer beauty, it’s the paintings that spark something in myself, that inspire something in my own work from some connection in that painting that jumps out at me, that are usually my favorites. These Seurat circus paintings do that for me. While I find many of Seurat’s other paintings pleasant enough and lovely to see, they don’t fire my imagination in the same way.
Maybe it’s the subject matter. Maybe it’s the angular edges in these compositions compared to the softer , rounder edges of the Park painting, for instance. Maybe it something as simple of the colors of these pieces. I don’t know. I just know they make me want to get something down on paper or canvas quick before the inspiration fades.
I love all of these. The sheer size of the park painting is amazing to see in person.
And I loved Sunday in the Park with George. Jenny and I saw it when it opened and we had a great time. We have always been fans. Jenny’s done a number of Sondheim’s roles, including Mrs. Lovett, my favorite.
I had the opportunity to interview Sondheim just before Sunday in the Park opened and he complained that too many of the Broadway musicals were “about the set.”
After seeing the show, which relies heavily on the paintings coming to life and vice versa, I wished I’d had the chance for a follow-up question.
I hadn’t really thought about it but there is a lot of theatricality in a lot of his paintings, especially the three shown here. I could see *Circus Sideshow* as the basis for some sort of show or at least a set. Maybe that’s also part of the attraction…
The Circus Sideshow is an impressive picture. It’s at the Met if anyone wants to go see it in person. The original owner was Stephen C. Clark, the chief benefactor of our museums in Cooperstown (if only he left it to us!).
Our current major patron, Stephen’s granddaughter Jane, told me that she can recall going to her grandfather’s NYC townhouse where the Seurat hung over the mantle in the living room. She was a child, and recalls falling asleep on the sofa while staring at it.
She would also go upstairs to the gallery to play underneath the Van Gogh Night Cafe, now at Yale. Another world…
Paul– Sorry about the omission of the Met as the current home of this piece. Thanks for mentioning Stephen C. Clark. I am intrigued by his brother, Edward, and his dueling collections. It’s a great story.
What a thought! To drowse comfortably in your grandparent’s home under the watch of The Circus Sideshow.
[…] of the circus paintings from Pablo Picasso. like the one shown here, or the ones from Seurat that I wrote about here in the past. There’s something very visually interesting in the circus, with it’s […]