The Circus Médrano was located at the corner of the Rue des Martyrs and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, close to Seurat's studio.

The work is similar to chromolithograph Au cirque by Karl Gampenrieder, but it is not clear if Seurat had seen it.

A sense of space is created by the whiteface clown in the foreground, facing away from the viewer, and the tiers of bleachers.

Le Cirque was first exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in March 1891, in an unfinished state.

The painting was returned to Seurat's mother after the exhibition in 1891, and she hung it in the room in the Boulevard de Magenta where he had died.