Circus scene 

Margareta Sterian painted this “Circus Scene” using watercolor with broad strokes that give the painting an unfinished quality and an airy, dreamlike feeling. The architecture of the circus is suggested by a subtle curvilinear, with an overarching structure that frames the main action within its cage. The figures, both human and animal, are arranged in a rhythmic composition of verticals and diagonals, adding to a sense of controlled chaos. The cage's structure, composed of thin vertical lines, imprisons the figures and creates visual patterns that both unify and divide the space. The colour is muted, with blues and browns dominating, which softens the potentially jarring image of animals in captivity. The circus, a place of spectacle, is here reduced to its bare bones, a play of forms and colours. The painting offers a semiotic analysis of societal control through the symbol of the circus; it captures the inherent tension between freedom and confinement, performance and reality. Notice the dynamic composition which draws our eye to the centre, where the drama unfolds, inviting us to question the spectacle we are witnessing.