virtuosities were granted to Tamayo thanks to his constant disciplined painting routine, which also enabled him to achieve a mastery that is evidenced in each one of his works. Tamayo cultivated a rebelliousness that expressed his constant search for new aesthetic conundrums, used and resolved in works of amiable themes like this one, which despite its apparent simplicity also demonstrates a great technical complexity. The work shows an enormous artistic wisdom won during more than seventy years of artistic and creative work. The energy and subtle power of El juglar is covered in a layer of masterful color, demonstrating Tamayo’s ever increasing talent in the prime of his maturity. In this way, El juglar is a painting that magnificently encapsulates the large and successful trajectory of one of the most important artists of modern Mexican art. Juan Carlos Pereda Curator, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City Georges Seurat, Circus, 1890-1891, Oil on canvas 72 7⁄8 x 59 7⁄8 in. (185 x 152 cm), Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay), Paris © RMNGrand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
In the evanescent background mist, a few splashes of color float — pictorial touches that enrich the visual atmosphere supporting the acrobatic leap of the juggler. This technique functions as an excuse for Tamayo to play with the elements of rhythm that make the light of the background even more vibrant. The bright yet elegant contrasts of harmonic colors create a subtle distinction between the grey of the figure’s clothing and the foreground juxtaposed against the lilac, grey and blue background. The expression on the juggler’s face underlines the concentration required to execute the feat while simultaneously evoking the plastic elements of preColumbian masks, omnipresent in all of Tamayo’s oeuvre, which creates an aesthetic dialogue between the painting’s forms. El juglar, painted when the artist was eighty-three years old, eloquently demonstrates that Tamayo had not only retained his great abilities but had in fact become more skilled in his mature years. The painting overflows with energy and vitality, as if it had been painted by an artist in the prime of his youth. These technical and conceptual Edgar Degas, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879. Oil on canvas, 46 x 31 in. (116.8 x 78.7 cm)
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