Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)

1887–88

Oil on canvas, 100.3 × 161.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

A trick rider circles a circus ring while the ringmaster urges her horse on. It is an early large painting of Montmartre entertainment, made before the posters.

Faces lean toward exaggeration: the rider's heavy makeup and snarl, the ringmaster's answering glare. Pushing features this far sharpens character instead of flattering the sitter.
Joseph Oller, owner of the Moulin Rouge, bought it to hang in his dance hall.
Look at the ringmaster's long whip, curving across the empty floor toward the horse.
The ring's curve sweeps diagonally across the canvas, carrying the eye along with the horse.
In 1925 the Art Institute purchased it from Paul Rosenberg & Co.

The Cirque Fernando was a Montmartre circus that Renoir also painted. Suzanne Valadon may have modeled for the rider.

Image: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0