About this artwork
Toulouse-Lautrec painted At the Moulin Rouge between 1892 and 1895, during the years when the Moulin Rouge was the most famous cabaret in Paris and he was its most famous customer. He was in his late twenties, living in Montmartre, and producing the paintings and posters that would make him the visual chronicler of Parisian nightlife in the 1890s.
The painting shows a group of figures seated at a table in the Moulin Rouge. At the left, three men sit around a table: the writer Edouard Dujardin, the photographer Paul Sescau, and the photographer Maurice Guibert. At the center, the dancer La Goulue sits with her back to the viewer, adjusting her hair in a mirror. At the right, two women sit at a table: the dancer May Milton, her face painted an eerie green, and another woman whose face is cut by the edge of the canvas. In the background, the cabaret's dance floor is visible, with figures dancing under the gas lamps.
The painting is built on a series of radical cropping decisions. The woman at the right is cut in half by the edge of the canvas. The dancer at the center is shown from behind. The green face of May Milton is the most striking element in the composition, and it is pushed to the far right, as if Toulouse-Lautrec wanted to make the viewer work to find it. The composition is influenced by Japanese prints, which Toulouse-Lautrec collected, and by photography, which he practiced as a hobby. The cropping creates the feeling of a snapshot: a moment caught in passing, with no attempt to arrange the figures for the viewer's convenience.
Toulouse-Lautrec was a regular at the Moulin Rouge from its opening in 1889. He was given a reserved table, he designed posters for the cabaret, and he was friends with the dancers and the management. His presence at the Moulin Rouge was both social and professional: he was there to drink and to watch, and he was there to draw. The paintings he produced from these nights are the most vivid record of Parisian nightlife in the 1890s, and they have shaped the way we imagine the Moulin Rouge ever since.
Oil on canvas, 123 by 141 centimeters. Toulouse-Lautrec painted with thin, direct strokes, building the figures in flat areas of color outlined in dark blue and black. The green face of May Milton is painted in an unnatural, theatrical green that has no precedent in portraiture: it is the color of the gas lighting in the cabaret, which turned pale faces green. The surface has the flat, poster-like quality that distinguishes Toulouse-Lautrec's work from the more modeled painting of his Impressionist predecessors.
The horizontal format and bold palette make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or bar. The reds, greens, and yellows pair with dark wood, warm lighting, and rooms with a bold or eclectic design. The 18x24 size gives the figures room to read. The painting has a lively, theatrical quality that suits rooms where people gather or entertain.
The painting entered the Art Institute of Chicago's collection in 1953, gifted by Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman.
This is a public domain artwork, scanned from the original at the Art Institute of Chicago. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.
