La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - 1891-92 - 79.4 x 59.0 cm Museum of Modern Art La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - 1891-92 - 79.4 x 59.0 cm Museum of Modern Art

La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge

oil on board • 79.4 x 59.0 cm
  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - November 24, 1864 - September 9, 1901 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1891-92

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec loved to depict cabarets, dancers, and prostitutes. Louise Weber, nicknamed La Goulue (the glutton), is depicted in the Moulin Rouge—a Montmartre cabaret frequented by the Parisian demimonde—flanked by her sister to her right and, to her left, her lover. Toulouse-Lautrec made many paintings of Weber, a star performer known for her appetite. Throughout his work he portrayed unconventional individuals in an audacious manner both frank and sympathetic. The shallow space, bold cropping, and heavy, form-flattening outlines reflect the pictorial devices of Japanese woodblock prints and the work of Edgar Degas, which Toulouse–Lautrec greatly admired. The artist considered this work to be the best of his dance-hall paintings and exhibited it four times the year it was completed.

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P.S. Here's Lautrec's portrayal of another famous dancer of the cabaret times, Misia Natanson.