La Goulue Arriving at the Moulin Rouge with Two Women 1892

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this painting of La Goulue, a star dancer at the Moulin Rouge, using oil on canvas. Look closely, and you'll notice how much of the canvas is left bare, especially in the lower portion of the composition. This wasn’t a traditional approach for a painting at the time. Lautrec thinned his oil paints with turpentine, so he could quickly capture the ephemeral atmosphere of the dance hall. This emphasis on speed is something he picked up making posters, which were usually printed using lithography. Lautrec brought the same approach to his painting, leaving marks that capture the energy of the space and the people within it. He was depicting the new forms of urban life that had emerged as the world was rapidly industrializing. The loose application of paint suggests the speed of modern life, as the artist sought to capture the energy of Paris. Ultimately, what really matters here is not just what is represented, but how Toulouse-Lautrec’s painting helps us understand the material and social conditions of its making.