Artwork Information

Rops creates a strong sense of weightiness in the body of the trapeze artist, whose dark-ringed eyes gaze wearily back at the viewer. The scene is one of stillness, and yet activity is indicated by the presence of the trapeze, on which gravity can be defied. It is as if she is tired of being eternally watched, by the circus audience, the artist, and we, the spectators. (Impressions of Time and Place, 2002)