Fernand LégerFrench, 1881–1955Circus Family
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Circus Family” now? Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Not on view at present. Checked September 22, 2026.
New York, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- Source
- The museum
Details
- Accession number
- 502.1964
In the catalog
Sources
- The Museum of Modern Art
- Image: The Museum of Modern Art — © the artist or rights holder
In the life of Fernand Léger
The whole life1940–1945
The war years in exile in the United States
In 1940–1945 Léger lives in exile in the United States. He teaches at Yale University, where Focillon, Milhaud and Maurois also teach, gives “Composition with Two Parrots” to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in the summer gives a course of lectures at Mills College (Oakland, California), where he organizes an exhibition of his paintings.
1940–1945
Broadway neon and bands of colour
During his American sojourn Léger begins making paintings in which freely arranged bands of colour are juxtaposed with figures and objects outlined in black. He credited the neon advertisements of Broadway as the source of this innovation: you talk to someone and he suddenly turns blue, then the colour fades, another one comes and turns him red or yellow.
1940–1945
A circle of refugees: Pierre Matisse and Father Couturier
In his years of exile Léger meets other refugee artists at Pierre Matisse's and forms a friendship with Father R. P. Couturier.
