Le Moulin Rouge 

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen sketched "Le Moulin Rouge" in an undefined year, capturing a slice of Parisian life with simple lines. The image presents us with a bustling scene near the famous cabaret. Steinlen, working in France at the time, seems to be commenting on the class dynamics of leisure. We see an affluent couple strolling, while a more solitary, perhaps working-class figure stands apart, hinting at social stratification. The Moulin Rouge itself, in the background, was a place where these different social strata mingled, but not without underlying tensions. To understand this sketch fully, we can look into the historical context of entertainment and social divisions in Paris at the turn of the century. Newspaper archives, social commentary of the period, and even police records, can provide details about the cultural norms and the realities of urban life. Art becomes more meaningful when we connect it to its social and institutional context.