Today, we are going to look at an impressionist painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir called Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando.
In this painting, we see two circus performers and sisters, Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg performing as acrobats in the Cirque Fernando in Paris. This painting captures them at the end of their act and the crowd cheers on.
In this painting, you can see what kind of personality each sister has.
The sister on the left (I assume is Francisca) loves the crowd. She loves the attention, she bows and poses. There are oranges all over the ground tossed by the crowd in tribute. The oranges are not really important to her as long as they continue to pay attention to her. Secretly, she would rather have her other sister back off so she can have the maximum spotlight. Even though they both performed, Francisca feels that she’s the better performer. Her moves were more calculated and therefore flawless. She knows this as she does everything better than her sister after all.
On the other hand, The sister on the right (Angelina) is just standing there like a wooden post hogging all the oranges. She stands there with a “more oranges please” look on her face. There’s some sass in her facial expression and her pose. She probably thinks that she’s the better performer. She’s done all the work. Her performance was flawless and more superior than her sister. The audience clearly noticed her performance more. It’s the reason she has all the oranges.
She would prefer if her sister would stop posing and bowing and pick up the damn oranges. The audience’s been clapping for 30 minutes and Angelina stands there awkwardly as her sister bows the entire time. While waiting, she stares out into the crowd with her resting bitch face probably thinking in her head, “dude Francisca, hurry up so I can eat.”
The audience tossing oranges at the performers is a rare treat. It’s no wonder Angelina wants to hog all the oranges. I can imagine, like a wedding where people toss uncooked rice at the newlyweds, there’s nothing but oranges flying at them as a thank you from the crowd. It’s an interesting thing to imagine, especially if the performers are little girls. Nothing more amazing than getting nearly knocked out by fruit at the end of a performance.
To conclude, Pierre was a leading painter of the Impressionist style and as with many impressionist painters, you can see the mix combination of colors spanning from vibrant to muted and dark. The paint strokes are fast-paced and pinpoint this fleeting moment at the end of Angelina and Francisca’s performance. This fleeting moment being just as special as those oranges.
Source:
“Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg).” The Art Institute of Chicago, European Painting and Sculpture, www.artic.edu/artworks/81558/acrobats-at-the-cirque-fernando-francisca-and-angelina-wartenberg.