Georges Rouault (1871-1958)

The Fondation Georges Rouault has confirmed the authenticity of this work.


Clown et petite danseuse comes bears strong similarity to several studies entitled Parade (Rouault & Dorival; 1369-1371, 1386-1387) from Cirque de l’étoile filante [The Circus of the Shooting Star], a theme which Rouault had worked on as a series of colour etchings to be produced as a book with his publisher Ambroise Vollard between 1926 – 1938. The same composition later appears once again, as with the present work, in Parade (Rouault & Dorival, 2093). Further examples by the same name can be seen executed in a horizontal format in the collection of the Centre Pompidou.

In this composition, Rouault explores the interaction between the two characters of his much beloved circus; the tragic, fumbling clown and delicate, petite, dancer, producing a humorous contrast. Their encounter in this context can be seen to stand in as a metaphor for the sense of otherness in human relationships. At the same time, the awkwardness of this juxtaposition is contextualised by their common affiliation within the circus, a group, often familial in their relationship to one another, where misfits may find togetherness, even belonging.