Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)

1887–88

This work, set at a circus, captures the tense moment in which a female trick rider prepares to stand up on her horse and leap through a paper hoop held by a clown. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec may have based the rider, dressed in a tutu of gauze and sequins, on Suzanne Valadon, a former circus performer, model, and artist with whom he had a relationship.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)

Date

1887–88

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

100.3 × 161.3 cm (39 1/2 × 63 1/2 in.); Framed: 123.2 × 181 × 8.3 cm (48 1/2 × 71 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Joseph Winterbotham Collection