From the quote above, one can discern the deep enthusiasm that Chagall maintained for the circus throughout his life. His fascination originated from his childhood in Vitebsk, where travelling troupes of acrobats would perform before crowds gathered on the streets. The circus theme appeared in Chagall’s oeuvre as early as 1914, with his painting 'Acrobate' (Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery), and re-emerged in his spectacular decoration for 'The Introduction to the Jewish Theatre' (Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery). Later in his career, the figure of the dynamic circus acrobat became his most enduring symbol of artistic expression.

In 'Les quatre têtes (cirque Vollard)', this acrobat takes centre stage, attempting with impressive poise to balance atop a four-headed cow. The acrobat’s precarious yet controlled position is set against a vibrant red background, the intersecting planes of which echo the performer’s pose and heighten the composition’s sense of dynamism.

'Les quatre têtes' is part of a series comprising of nineteen gouaches exploring the circus. Commissioned in 1927 by the dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard, the series became known as the Cirque Vollard. To support this ambitious project, Vollard offered Chagall free use of his season box at the Cirque d’Hiver, which the artist gratefully accepted, “because the circus was a lovely place to take his daughter.” As Sidney Alexander has written, “Marc was as childishly delighted with it as Ida” (Chagall: A Biography, New York, 1978, p. 292).

Le grand chapiteau of the Cirque d’Hiver inspired Chagall to view the circus as a vivid metaphor for the life he had chosen to lead. In doing so, he followed a distinguished lineage of painters in France who turned to the circus as a subject - from Watteau, a favourite of Chagall’s, to Daumier, Degas, Renoir, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, and, among his contemporaries including Picasso, Rouault, Dufy, Van Dongen and Léger. The vision and dream of the circus became central to Chagall’s personal mythology.

The Cirque Vollard series, together with the Fables de La Fontaine gouaches, firmly established Chagall as one of the leading figures of the Parisian avant-garde. Characterised by their saturated, luminous colours, these gouaches offer an entirely fresh interpretation of the circus world and testify to Chagall’s inexhaustible imagination. The present work’s rarity lies in its unusual composition and in the remarkable vibrancy of its pigments, whose intensity is further enhanced by Chagall’s innovative use of red-coloured paper.