After that, both paintings were quickly returned to the artist, who kept them until his time of death. The way the areas of paint interconnect forms a sphere at the centre of the painting. It is created around the oblique line of the limelight. The yellow shade of the moon, the green colour of the horse and the red tint of the acrobat's regalia all reveal a hollow core in the middle - indicating a moment of peace in the midst of the chaotic show of the circus.

Le Cirque Bleu illustrates an acrobat, with all the attention focusing on her, as she balances on her trapeze. A bright yellow moon sits perfectly at the middle-right of the painting. All at once, it is at full crescent, highlighting the night-time air. Multiple hybrid figures inhabit the scene: a flying fish - a typical Chagallian species - throws a bouquet of floras from a hand protuberant from its right side in the upper-left of the painting. A musical cockerel plays the bass drum, and a big green horse - the hue of love for Chagall - rounds out the photo at the bottom right.

Chagall garnered influence from the concept of the circus. The inspiration was inevitable considering that he was exposed to the circus all through his life. As a boy in Russia, he had been intrigued by the travelling acrobats he saw at village fairs. Ambroise Vollard frequently followed him to the circus when he relocated to Paris, where he would sit in the crowd and draw. Vollard was a French art dealer and observed as one of the most significant merchants in French contemporary art at the commencement of the twentieth century.

Chagall was enchanted by the wild and colourful world of the circus. Here, from comic to tragic, he saw all facets of life portrayed. He later said, 'A circus is a magic show for me that emerges and fades like a planet.' With their eccentric outfits and brassy make-up, circus performers were perfect characters to inhabit Chagall's dream-like depictions.