Exhibition from October 16, 2026, to February 14, 2027
The museum is pleased to once again celebrate the circus that kept Montmartre’s heart beating for nearly a century. Thanks to the acrobats’ feats, the splendor of the costumes, and the magic of the ring, generations of artists have discovered an unparalleled arena for experimentation.
Through a chronological exhibition featuring paintings, sculptures, drawings, posters, costumes, and artifacts, the museum highlights the circus’s pivotal role in shaping the visual languages of modernity. As the neighborhood established itself as one of the epicenters of artistic modernity, the Cirque Fernando—which later became the Cirque Medrano—served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Degas, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Chagall, Rouault, Léger, and many others.
The exhibition explores the connections between the circus arts and the avant-garde. As early as the 1870s, Georges Seurat found the circus to be a prime subject for observation. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec drew inspiration from it, before Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall, and Georges Rouault, in turn, embraced this fascinating world. Indeed, this realm of endless possibilities offers artists a unique spectacle: movement, light, and transformation. It is here that painters, writers, and musicians feed their imaginations to create powerful works.
The circus transcends its role as mere entertainment to become a true venue for artistic experimentation. The boundaries between performance and creation then blur, giving way to a dialogue between the arts. The street performer becomes an allegorical figure of the modern artist, while the ring seems to foreshadow some of the great aesthetic revolutions of the 20th century. Indeed, a whole realm of performances and innovations accompanies the emergence of new artistic sensibilities.
Through this exhibition, the Musée de Montmartre pays tribute to an exceptional artistic and popular heritage. It reveals how a vital part of modern art took shape under the big tops of the Butte.
Curators
Pascal Jacob, Marika Maymard, Gérard Borg, and Jeanne-Yvonne Borg, collectors and specialists in circus arts
Coordinated by Alice S. Legé, Ph.D. in art history and head of conservation at the Musée de Montmartre