The late 1950s marked a significant and formative phase in Rita Letendre’s career as she began to articulate and refine her distinct aesthetic vision. Having explored the unconscious methods championed by the Automatists and experimented with geometric, Plasticien-esque grid configurations in her early abstractions, her surfaces gradually softened into expressive planes of vibrant impasto. Drawing on the organic gestures and rhythms of the natural world, her works took on an energetic and emotive sensibility distinctly her own. Her 1957 painting Le Cirque exemplifies this exploratory shift. Kinetic brushstrokes rendered in an enlivened palette of verdant greens and vivid crimson are illuminated by radiant flares of white, demonstrating Letendre’s mastery of capturing the ebullient, joyful qualities of light. She assigned her titles intuitively and only after completion—responding to the sensed atmosphere of the overall work rather than informing the trajectory of the painting’s creation. While remaining non-representational, Le Cirque, or The Circus, conjures the dynamic energies, cacophonous sounds and theatrical gestures of synchronized spectacle. The dramatic bursts of paint unite in a playful yet cohesive directional composition, evoking the immersive thrill of performance and showcasing the aesthetic approaches that would come to shape Letendre’s long and indelible career.