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Above a row of spectators, Beckmann's painting reveals a narrow stage area. Three performers step into the spotlight on the wooden floor and perform their tricks. On the left, a dancer is doing the splits, and on the right, a fire-eater in a yellow coat is juggling rings. Behind them, a woman lies on three swords with red handles that seem to pierce her in midair. In the dark background, a band of four men standing close together can be seen. The painting brings together a wide variety of performers and artists on a small stage.

Beckmann did not depict a real scene from a variety theater here, but rather combined and condensed various motifs and actions from the stage. This may confuse viewers at first glance. He thus created an almost inscrutable spectacle that can once again be understood as a symbol of life. In 1941–42, when the painting was created, Beckmann was living in exile in Amsterdam. He had set up his studio and apartment in a small tobacco warehouse. He never returned to Germany. The confinement, the feeling of threat, and the loss of freedom are particularly evident in his “Self-Portrait with Green Curtain” from that period, which hangs on the opposite wall. Beckmann often visited the world of Amsterdam variety theater as an attempt to escape this situation. Once again, he used motifs from the stage and the circus in his art to symbolically represent the mysteries of reality, crises, war, and chaos.