Image: public domain, courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago

Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)

Auguste Renoir, 1879

Two young sisters from a family of acrobats take their bow in the ring of a Paris circus. One greets the crowd while the other holds oranges that the audience threw to them as a reward.

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Did you know?

The real sisters, Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, were about 17 and 14 years old when Renoir painted them.
They came from a German family of travelling acrobats who performed in Paris.
In those days audiences rewarded the best circus acts by throwing oranges into the ring.
The Cirque Fernando opened its permanent building in 1875 in Montmartre, on the edge of Paris.
We look down into the ring from above, and at the top of the picture you can see a row of men in dark suits watching.
In the same year, 1879, Edgar Degas also painted a performer at the Cirque Fernando.

About the artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was born in Limoges, worked mostly in Paris, and spent his last years in the sunny south of France at Cagnes-sur-Mer.

A leading Impressionist, he is loved for joyful scenes of people enjoying themselves together, such as Dance at the Moulin de la Galette and Luncheon of the Boating Party.

At thirteen he started out painting flowers on porcelain, and all his life he believed a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir ›

Where it is today: The Art Institute of Chicago · Museum page