Peter Colfs

PETER COLFS (1906-1983).
"Circus characters", 1976.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper left corner.
Measurements: 85 x 110.5 cm; 107 x 132 (frame).

Circus scenes and characters like the ones Peter Colfs presents us now have been recurrent in the art world. Their importance is due to the fact that they condense movement, spectacle, emotion and human tension in a single space, offering artists an ideal field for experimenting with light, color and the representation of the body in action. Since the 19th century, the circus became a symbol of urban modernity: a popular, ephemeral and vibrant place that attracted painters such as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat or Picasso, interested both in the dynamism of acrobats and riders and in the contrast between the joy of the spectacle and the fragility of those who starred in it.

Peter Colfs was an outstanding Belgian painter and academic, trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown, where he later became a professor. Awarded prestigious prizes such as the Godecharle Prize and the Belgian Prix de Rome in the 1930s, Colfs consolidated a multifaceted career that ranged from portraiture and still life to urban landscapes and allegorical compositions of neo-expressionist style. His work achieved international renown thanks to monumental commissions, the most famous being the design of the tapestry "The Triumph of Peace", presented by the Belgian government to the United Nations in 1954 for its headquarters in New York. In addition, his link with the spirit of his time led him to participate in the art competitions of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games.