Au cirque fernando renoir biography

1879 painting by Edgar Degas

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando is an oil on canvas painting by the French Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. Painted in 1879 and exhibited at the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris that same year,^[1] it is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

It is Degas's only circus painting, and Miss La La is the only identifiable person of color in Degas's works. The special identity of Miss La La and the great skills Degas used in painting her performance in the circus made this piece of art important, widely appreciated but, at the same time, controversial.

Introduction

Degas visited the recently established Cirque Fernando (built 1875) at least four times between the 19th and 25th of January 1879.^[2] The star attraction was the act of Miss La La, a mixed-race acrobat, known as la femme canon.^[2] The nickname came from her most sensational trick: to fire a can