Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891)
Colour lithograph poster; impressions in many collections
His first poster: La Goulue dancing, with 'No-Bones' Valentin in silhouette
Image: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Art
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1864–1901 · French
Post-Impressionism / Art Nouveau
Aristocrat from Albi who chronicled the cabarets, dance halls and brothels of Montmartre. His bold colour-lithograph posters for the Moulin Rouge and its stars turned the advertising poster into an art form.
How to spot them
- ▸Posters with flat colour, strong silhouettes and lettering, influenced by Japanese prints
- ▸Moulin Rouge performers: La Goulue, Jane Avril, Valentin le Désossé, Aristide Bruant
- ▸Gaslit night scenes with harsh, greenish faces and diagonal compositions
Key works
Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant (1892)
Colour lithograph poster; impressions in many collections
The cabaret singer in a black hat and red scarf
At the Moulin Rouge (1892–1895)
Art Institute of Chicago
Night-club table with a green-lit woman's face at right; the tiny artist appears in the background
Image: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Divan Japonais (1893)
Colour lithograph poster; impressions in many collections
Jane Avril in black in the audience, with Yvette Guilbert headless on stage
Jane Avril (Jardin de Paris) (1893)
Colour lithograph poster; impressions in many collections
Avril high-kicking, framed by a double-bass neck
Quick-fire facts
- •Born in Albi, where the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec now holds a large collection of his work
- •Broke both thighbones as a teenager; his legs stopped growing, probably due to a genetic condition linked to his parents being first cousins
- •Studied at Fernand Cormon's studio in Paris, where he befriended Van Gogh
- •The Moulin Rouge opened in 1889 and commissioned his first poster in 1891
- •Died at the family château of Malromé in 1901, aged 36, after alcoholism and syphilis
- •Played by José Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952) and John Leguizamo in Moulin Rouge! (2001)
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Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
- The National Gallery, London — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec