Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings and posters of La Moulin Rouge in Paris helped make both famous at a time when things were rapidly changing in fin-de-siecle Paris. I love the movie above playing on wall at the entrance to the exhibit currently at the Minneapolis Art Institute… this early, ‘jerky’ movie makes you feel like you are stepping into the scene, with horse-drawn carriages as well as automobiles. It really exhibits the energy of this time in Paris at the fin-de-siecle.
The Moulin Rouge opened in 1889, the same year as the the Eiffel Tower and the same day that Thomas Edison debuted the first motion picture shorts in the United States. (Monkeyshines)
It represents a new kind of entertainment for the masses, where people can be together but also be anonymous in Montmartre, Paris’s most bohemian neighborhood.
Toulouse-Lautrec helped make the magic happen in this iconic cabaret where he gathered with his friends (he also pictures himself in the group below). His perspective and style were revolutionary for the time… including the acid-green and white face of a performer, which was removed at some point to make it more palatable, then added back before it ended up at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1928. The complete painting is now generously on loan to MIA for a few months.

This period also represents the birth of a new kind of celebrity… not based on the venue but on the performers you wanted to see. Hence the importance of the famous posters Toulouse-Lautrec designed to advertise Aristide Bruant, in a style distilled into a few visual details: the red scarf, the hat, the walking stick, the cape, the scowl… all you would need to recognize him and and note where he was appearing.

Another poster in the exhibit, one of LA LOIE FULLER, intrigued me. I had never heard of her before, but I learned she was born near Chicago, and started performing as a child. She became famous at La Folies-Bergere in Paris about the same time during the Art Nouveau era, and has been called one of the greatest artists in modern dance, shortly before Isadora Duncan appeared on the scene.
Fuller was a dancer known for her performances of swirling full-body veils of silk utilizing inventive stage lighting that no one had seen before at this time. In ‘Fire Dance’ from 1896, recreation linked below, she stood on a plate of glass illuminated from beneath the stage by an operator who would switch out glass slides called gelatins that she prepared and colored herself, creating ever-changing designs reflected onto her costumes. These stage effects set her apart and made her an expert in stage design and theater using effects never used before this time. Evidence even suggests that she had an impact on the glass work of Louis C Tiffany.

This free exhibit, At the Moulin Rouge, continues through March 9, 2025 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com