By focusing on the two clowns mid-performance in Les clowns musiciens, le saxophoniste, Buffet revisits a subject which had held a particular fascination for him during his early career. Beginning in 1955, the artist undertook an extensive exploration of the theme of the travelling circus, painting melancholy portraits of clowns, trapeze artists, animal performers and acrobats as they entertained an invisible audience.

In these paintings, the mournful expressions of these characters clashed with the exaggerated makeup and flamboyant costumes they wore, projecting a melancholic atmosphere that belied the traditional view of the circus as a gleeful, jubilant form of entertainment. Viewed in the context of Post-War Europe, these figures were seen as symbolic reflections of the internal suffering and angst hidden by so many people following the conflict, as they attempted to continue with normal life in the wake of such tragedy.