Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando

Edgar Degas

Oil on canvas

National Gallery, London

In this bold Impressionist canvas, Degas captures the mixed-race aerialist Miss La La — born Anna Albertine Olga Brown (1858–1945) — suspended from a rope clenched between her teeth as she is hoisted toward the ornate ceiling of the Cirque Fernando in Paris. Viewed from below, as the audience would have seen her, the composition is strikingly unconventional: Miss La La is positioned in the upper left corner while the gilded beams, girders, and arched windows of the circus architecture dominate the picture plane, their diagonal lines echoing the angles of her outstretched limbs. Degas, a leading figure of French Impressionism known for his ballet scenes and interest in modern urban spectacle, made at least four visits to the newly built Cirque Fernando in January 1879 and produced numerous preparatory drawings and pastels before completing the oil painting. The work stands apart from contemporaneous circus paintings by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, as its upward-gazing viewpoint and radical cropping reflect Degas's sustained exploration of unusual perspective and the fleeting dynamism of modern life.