Sketch for "The Acrobats in the Circus"

1918

Not on view

After recuperating from a war injury in 1917, Léger embraced all that Paris had to offer. The Cirque Médrano, a circus permanently housed in Montmartre, was popular at the time, and Léger memorialized it in a major canvas, The Acrobats in the Circus (1918; Kunstmuseum Basel). In this highly finished preparatory oil study, the pencil lines used to square off the composition and transpose it to a larger scale are clearly visible. They also underscore the gridlike structure that became one of the main legacies of Cubism.

Artwork Details

Title: Sketch for "The Acrobats in the Circus"
Artist: Fernand Léger (French, Argentan 1881–1955 Gif-sur-Yvette)
Date: 1918
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 13 × 16 1/8 in. (33 × 41 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2025
Object Number: 2025.616.23
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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