We visited Västervik this summer, and we happened to visit on the last days of this excellent exhibition of original cirkus posters. They were rather worn, and were to be digitalised and saved for future generations. These original posters come from one of the most extensive collections of cirkus posters in the world. Amazing.

From my childhood memories, cirkus posters mostly looked like the left one, Trolle Rhodin’s cirkus. But here, we found an interesting collection of Polish posters from Cyrk and the Polish School of Posters. See the stunning difference between these two. I just had to post a gallery with some of them. I don’t have to say that my most loved one is the lion having humans jump through the ring… As a child that was my greatest wish…, and a wish for bulls chasing humans in the fighting arena too.

I just loved the simple and clean approach in these Polish artists’ hands. And the hidden messages. I also learned that long ago the cirkuses often had ”real” artists making their posters. Like this left poster by Tolouse Lautrec. The middle one is a poster from a time when ”strange and abnormal” people where shown to the audience. These two girls were albinos. (19th century)

The last advertisment is about Cirkus Madigan (also 19th century) and the beautiful Elvira Madigan. I guess some of you have heard her story or seen the movie on her tragic loveaffair with Sixten Sparre. It is always strange to realise that some movies were built on real persons, and real fates. We will never know the true story of course, but seeing her name there made her come alive to me. I loved that movie.