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At the Moulin Rouge

Painting, heavy in tones of blue-green and burnt orange, depicting a bar scene at night. The men wear top hats and many are bearded; the women are dressed in voluminous gowns and decorative hats. Five people converse in the center of the composition and a woman with a green face dominates the right foreground.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Painting, heavy in tones of blue-green and burnt orange, depicting a bar scene at night. The men wear top hats and many are bearded; the women are dressed in voluminous gowns and decorative hats. Five people converse in the center of the composition and a woman with a green face dominates the right foreground.

Date:

1892/95

Artist:

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)

About this artwork

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has been associated with the Moulin Rouge since its opening in 1889: the owner of the legendary nightclub bought the artist’s Equestrienne as a decoration for the foyer. Toulouse-Lautrec populated At the Moulin Rouge with portraits of the legendary nightclub’s regulars, including himself—the diminutive figure in the center background—accompanied by his cousin, physician Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran. Dancer La Goulue arranges her hair behind the table where Jane Avril, another famous performer, socializes. Singer May Milton peers out from the right edge of the painting, her face harshly lit and acid green. At some point, the artist or his dealer cut down the canvas to remove Milton, perhaps because her strange appearance made the work hard to sell. Whatever the reason, by 1914 the cut section had been reattached to the painting.

Status

On loan to Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis for Toulouse-Lautrec (TBC)

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Title

At the Moulin Rouge

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1892–1895

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Stamped lower left with monogram

Dimensions

123 × 141 cm (48 7/16 × 55 1/2 in.); Framed: 136.9 × 154.7 × 8.5 cm (53 7/8 × 60 7/8 × 3 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection

Reference Number

1928.610

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/61128/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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