Marin began to incorporate circus themes into his work in 1934, the figures often overwhelmed by whirring scenes surrounding them. During the 1940s, Marin's circus subjects were drawn from the point of view of a spectator looking down on the abstracted figures in the rings. While Marin's 1930s circus scenes contained hapless clowns and acrobats, usually disrobed in some form, his later works on the theme feature just a suggestion of human presence in a looser, more spontaneous style.