How are you?
Currently, I am
introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the
title “Interesting
Art Stories”.
The 52nd story is “At the Moulin
Rouge” by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
“At the Moulin Rouge” is an oil painting by French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Painted between 1892 and 1895, the background of this painting includes a self-portrait of Toulouse-Lautrec in profile.
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| Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec |
It is one of a number of works by
Toulouse-Lautrec depicting the Moulin Rouge cabaret, built in Paris in 1889. It
depicts the world in which Toulouse-Lautrec himself felt most comfortable.
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| The Moulin Rouge (1900) |
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
was a French artist born on November 24, 1864 and died on September 9, 1901. He
is one of the most famous Post-Impressionist painters along with Paul Cézanne,
Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat.
Born into the aristocracy,
he broke both of his legs as a child and he was just 4 feet 8 inches tall as an
adult because his legs did not grow due to an unknown disease affecting growth
and bone development.
Toulouse-Lautrec, born with
wealth and privilege, abandoned his aristocratic roots for his fondness of
Montmartre and the colorful nightlife of the area. He comforted himself with
alcohol, especially absinthe because he was ridiculed for his physical
appearance.
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| Moulin Rouge Poster, Jules Chéret (1890) |
This painting depicts a group of three men and two women sitting at a table in its center part. The people at the table include: writer Édouard Dujardin, dancer La Macarona, photographer Paul Secau, photographer Maurice Guibert and Jane Avril, who is the focal point of the group, easily recognizable by her flaming reddish-orange hair.
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| La Macarona in Riding Habit, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1893) |
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| Jane Avril, poster, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1893) |
In the right foreground is a partial facial view of English dancer May Milton, whose face is shining in a distinctive greenish light.
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| May Milton, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1895) |
In the right of the background is Moulin Rouge dancer La Goulue and a woman.
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| La Goulue arriving at the Moulin Rouge, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1892) |
In the center-left of the background is Toulouse-Lautrec’s cousin, Dr. Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran, and the short Toulouse-Lautrec himself is standing next to him.
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| Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1894) |
The painting is part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was first exhibited on December 23, 1930. It was exhibited in 2011 at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
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| Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA |
Thank you.
