Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)

In the pictureA man playing the trombone stands in the middle of the stage, with musicians lined up in a row behind him. On the right is the ringmaster holding a cane, and on the left the backs and hats of the audience stretch out in the dark. Along the top, nine gaslights glow like scattered dots. The colors are built from dark dots of purple, brown and orange, and every figure is seen in profile or from behind.

BackgroundPainted in 1887–88, it shows a circus sideshow stage (parade) at a Paris spring fair. A parade is a free sample performance given outside the tent. It is one of Seurat's six major pointillist paintings and his only night scene, and its composition, with figures set sideways like those in an Egyptian relief, and its division of the canvas according to the golden ratio have long been subjects of study. What runs through it is not the noise of a fair but a strange stillness.

Puzzle tipAs a puzzle it is hard. The whole picture is dark pointillism, so sorting by color doesn't work well, and at small scale all the pieces look alike. Zooming in is essential. Start with shapes such as the bright dots of the gaslights, the trombonist's light face and the ringmaster's cane, then join pieces along the outlines of the figures' silhouettes. The grid pattern in the background (the railing) and the horizontal line (the front edge of the stage) are good clues. For a first try, 24 to 48 pieces is recommended.