Detail from At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was born into an aristocratic family, but unfortunately, the wrong one. He suffered from a number of congenital health conditions and a skeletal abnormality related to decades of inbreeding between relatives – his parents were first cousins, as were other members of the family.By the age of 15, he had broken both of his thigh bones, neither of which healed properly; the result was that his legs no longer continued to grow. As an adult he stood only 4ft 8in tall, and had difficulty walking, relying on the use of a cane. The handicap left Lautrec unable to participate in activities enjoyed by most boys of his age. Frequently bedridden, he immersed himself in art instead. But despite his mother’s hope that he would pursue this interest and become a well-respected painter, Lautrec began haunting Montmartre, then considered home to the underbelly of Parisian society.
It was certainly popular with artists: rents were low, the bars plentiful, and the atmosphere less socially constrictive than the rest of Paris. Here, Lautrec befriended the local prostitutes, and enjoyed the seedier side of bohemian life, only very occasionally painting a landscape or two.
When the Moulin Rouge nightclub opened, in 1889, he discovered a new source of inspiration, and a world in which he felt, finally, that he could fit in. Having always considered himself an outsider, he was at ease among the curious characters of Montmartre, who had rebelled against traditional society. The copious amounts of alcohol he consumed there also helped him overcome the sneers and mockery he still frequently received. There he could forget his dismay, his dented pride at being an aristocrat who simply didn’t look the part. It began to feel like his second home.
Lautrec soon established himself as a highly regarded illustrator. He was commissioned to create the posters for the Moulin Rouge – work which most other artists considered beneath them. It earned him a reserved seat at the venue, and soon he was completely immersed in cabaret nightlife.
'Work which other artists considered beneath them': One of Toulouse-Lautrec's cabaret posters
Unsurprisingly, his drinking escalated. He had a fondness for potent cocktails of cognac and absinthe, and it was said that he even had his cane hollowed out and filled with spirits, never to be too far from a drink.Nevertheless, it was during these debauched, alcohol-fuelled nights that Lautrec found the inspiration for his defining work.
At the Moulin Rouge depicts the interior of the club on a normal night, and serves as a portrait of the regular patrons. Each night he would make a number of quick sketches, and expand the best of these the following days into paintings.
Lautrec was drawn both to Japanese prints and to the work of his contemporary Edgar Degas. Like Degas, he was obsessed by trying to capture the effect of a moving figure. Toulouse-Lautrec employed freely handled line and colour that in themselves conveyed the idea of movement.
At the Moulin Rouge (1892-95)
At the Moulin Rouge (1892-95) shows a group of three men and two women sitting around a table, deep in conversation: a writer, two dancers and two photographers. The bar cuts the viewer off from the table, and isolates a woman who is so heavily made-up that she appears somewhat grotesque under the electric lighting.
Toulouse-Lautrec’s fascination with the dissolute souls that frequented his favourite venue is revealing, as often Lautrec included himself alongside them, a self-lacerating viewpoint of his own lack of nobility or grace. He and his cousin, Dr Gabriel de Céleyran, are in the background – in order to demonstrate how immersed he now was in a world that was considered unseemingly decadent at worst, and sleazily theatrical at best. Perhaps it was not an appropriate life for a high-born man, but to middle‑class Parisians it certainly appeared an adventurous one, and they were soon to be entranced by the paintings.
Only four years after he completed the painting, Lautrec’s alcohol-fuelled lifestyle began to take its toll on his already frail body, and he was committed to a sanatorium. The pictures of nightclub interiors ceased; instead he worked on a series of prints dedicated to life inside a brothel.
Some observers note that Lautrec would often compose his figures so that their legs were not visible, presumably the artist’s reaction to his own stunted limbs. But he had always been able to treat his subject matter sympathetically and dispassionately. Moulin Rouge, for instance, is not a tale of love or tragedy, but rather a dark, nocturnal world which attracted and intrigued Lautrec and his fellow artists.
His work throbbed with life and energy, and its abstraction and two-dimensionality can be seen as a key influence on cubism and Fauvism.
He died at home in the care of his despairing mother, at just 36. For him, At the Moulin Rouge must have been a reminder of the life he had once lived, and the place where he found the most solace.
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