La Goulue – Toulouse-Lautrec – 1891

The Moulin Rouge was a cabaret and night club that was founded in 1889 in the Pigalle District, near Montmartre in Paris. Many famous dancer of the era, such as Jane Avril, La Goulue, Yvette Guilbert and Mistinguett, performed at the venue, but it is perhaps best known as the birthplace of the Can-can.

This is a reproduction of  Touloue-Lautrec’s famous La Goulue poster. La Goulue, was the stage name of Louise Weber, a French dancer who was a star of the Moulin Rouge. Because of her frequent habit of picking up customers glasses and quickly downing its contents, she was affectionately nicknamed La Goulue or The Glutton. In her routine, she would tease the male audience by swirling her raised dress to reveal the heart embroidered on her knickers and would do a high kick while flipping off a man’s hat with her toe. Whilst the can-can had been performed, mostly by men, before this time, it was the development of Le Goulue’s and other girls from Frech nightclubs that made the French can-can a worldwide phenomenon.

Although Moulin Rouge: La Goulue was Toulouse-Lautrec’s first attempt at lithography, such was his grasp of the medium’s possibilities that it was an immediate sensation. 3000 copies spread around Paris captivated the public with their eye-catching design, bold colors, and innovative, Japanese-inspired use of silhouettes. Cannily focusing on the dancer La Goulue, whose energetic kicks and insatiable appetites had made her famous, gave the poster an additional boost in popularity. But it was Toulouse-Lautrec’s own artistic skill that made him a star overnight. Louise Weber went on to be the toast of Paris and the highest paid entertainer of her day, she became one of the favourite subjects for Lautrec, immortalised by his portraits and posters of her dancing at the Moulin Rouge

Although most of the 3000 examples of La Goulue were pasted as advertising posters and lost, some surviving examples are in the collection of many institutions such as the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a print and frame for a great price.