Le Cirque 4 1967

Marc Chagall made this gouache and ink artwork, Le Cirque 4. I can imagine Chagall making this with a kind of feverish energy. Look at the scratchy lines and how they define the figures, and the thin washes of color that almost look like watercolor bleeding into the surface! I feel a kinship with Chagall here. There's a kind of looseness, a willingness to let the medium do its thing. The blue figure in the center, maybe she's an acrobat, or the star of the show? I wonder what she thinks of the clown down below, trying to get her attention. The paint is applied so thinly in some areas, yet elsewhere it cakes up in globs of bright color. These decisions must have been so intuitive, a conversation between him and the materials. It reminds me of other painters who embrace the unexpected, like Joan Miró, who also had such a playful and inventive way with color and form. It’s all one big conversation, artists responding to each other across time.