La Belle Epoque in Paris was time of peace, scientific progress, prosperity and leisure, at least for those with money. Four events in the later C19th led to significant changes in how Parisians lived:
1] Paris’s C19th layout was redesigned by Baron Haussmann on behalf of Napoleon III, to beautify the city. Between 1852-72, Haussmann demolished medieval roads, built wide boulevards and elegant buildings, surrounded by greenery.
2] the destructive Franco Prussian war of 1870-1 ended.
3] arrival of the railways by the mid C19th meant Frenchmen could travel anywhere! And the Paris Metro opened in 1900, with the elegant Art Nouveau décor.
4] The 1889 World Fair & Eiffel Tower were a major stimulus to French and foreign tourism. Cafe life arrived.
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Moulin Rouge interior, 1898
Early cancan dancers had been men, peacocking through a quadrille in ? defiance of France’s July Monarchy (1830-48). Women gradually joined in, and in 1867 the cancan dancer Finette imported the dance to London, where her high kicks inspired Kate Vaughan, first of the celebrated Gaiety Girls. They performed in black tights and foaming lacy petticoats over their flesh. Soon celebrated exponents like La Goulue and Jane Avril carried the cancan to a sexier show at the Folies Bergère and later in Moulin Rouge.
The cancan was about gorgeous, erotic underwear, and the girls doing high kicks, a dance that made the Moulin Rouge.
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Jules Cheret (1836-1932)’s training as a lithographer raised the poster to sophisticated heights. His Folies Bergere posters showed how simple the design was and how dominant the colour block was. Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) began designing posters in the early 1890s. For Bonnard, Moulin Rouge was an ideal place for inspiration; he used sober palette, refined, detailed composition in his paintings.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was an integral part of Paris nightlife. He documented the city’s bohemian night life in the 1880s & 1890s, frequenting the Moulin Rouge and other Montmartre cabarets where he attracted a large group of artists and intellectuals. He sat at a crowded nightclub table, drinking and sketching. The next morning in his studio he’d expand the sketches into full paintings. Lively posters by Lautrec thrilled the cabarets and music halls owners.
1] Paris’s C19th layout was redesigned by Baron Haussmann on behalf of Napoleon III, to beautify the city. Between 1852-72, Haussmann demolished medieval roads, built wide boulevards and elegant buildings, surrounded by greenery.
2] the destructive Franco Prussian war of 1870-1 ended.
3] arrival of the railways by the mid C19th meant Frenchmen could travel anywhere! And the Paris Metro opened in 1900, with the elegant Art Nouveau décor.
4] The 1889 World Fair & Eiffel Tower were a major stimulus to French and foreign tourism. Cafe life arrived.
Moulin Rouge, with its windmill vanes
opened in Montmartre in 1889.
Great galleries and museums were created to display the treasures gathered from across Europe, and Paris became the art capital of the world. The Bohemians favoured the Left Bank; impressionism was largely based on the love these artists had for their Paris social.
It was the Montmartre district in particular that became important during the Belle Epoch. Once a quiet rural district outside Paris, Montmartre was opened up to easy access during Haussmann's modernisation. Artists and writers flocked there.
Nightlife and cabarets thrived. Folies Bergère was the first music hall to open, in May 1869. In the early days the productions consisted of circus acts and sporty entertainers. Folies Bergere saw itself as the theatre of the ordinary people, offering unreserved seats for a modest cost.
Young ladies in revues began to appear almost naked as early as 1893, initially the result of a competition between artist's models concerning which of them had the best legs. Later the entire cast wore elaborate, skimpy costumes.
At night the Montmartre district started humming: soon night clubs opened for business all over the district. The Chat Noir Cabaret opened in 1881, attracting poets, singers and painters with Bohemian entertainment and decor.
The original Moulin Rouge was co-founded in 1889 by impresario Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia, and his supporting showman Charles Zidler. Moulin Rouge's architecture was modelled on a mill at the foot of Mt Montmartre, on the very site of an old working windmill. In Oct 1889 it opened as a dance-music hall, with cabaret. The illuminated windmill vanes became a landmark, rotating above roof tops on Boulevard de Clichy. Moulin Rouge featured a big dance floor, mirrored walls and a fashionable gallery, lit by round, mounted glass gas lamps.
It was the Montmartre district in particular that became important during the Belle Epoch. Once a quiet rural district outside Paris, Montmartre was opened up to easy access during Haussmann's modernisation. Artists and writers flocked there.
Nightlife and cabarets thrived. Folies Bergère was the first music hall to open, in May 1869. In the early days the productions consisted of circus acts and sporty entertainers. Folies Bergere saw itself as the theatre of the ordinary people, offering unreserved seats for a modest cost.
Young ladies in revues began to appear almost naked as early as 1893, initially the result of a competition between artist's models concerning which of them had the best legs. Later the entire cast wore elaborate, skimpy costumes.
At night the Montmartre district started humming: soon night clubs opened for business all over the district. The Chat Noir Cabaret opened in 1881, attracting poets, singers and painters with Bohemian entertainment and decor.
The original Moulin Rouge was co-founded in 1889 by impresario Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia, and his supporting showman Charles Zidler. Moulin Rouge's architecture was modelled on a mill at the foot of Mt Montmartre, on the very site of an old working windmill. In Oct 1889 it opened as a dance-music hall, with cabaret. The illuminated windmill vanes became a landmark, rotating above roof tops on Boulevard de Clichy. Moulin Rouge featured a big dance floor, mirrored walls and a fashionable gallery, lit by round, mounted glass gas lamps.
Early cancan dancers had been men, peacocking through a quadrille in ? defiance of France’s July Monarchy (1830-48). Women gradually joined in, and in 1867 the cancan dancer Finette imported the dance to London, where her high kicks inspired Kate Vaughan, first of the celebrated Gaiety Girls. They performed in black tights and foaming lacy petticoats over their flesh. Soon celebrated exponents like La Goulue and Jane Avril carried the cancan to a sexier show at the Folies Bergère and later in Moulin Rouge.
The cancan was about gorgeous, erotic underwear, and the girls doing high kicks, a dance that made the Moulin Rouge.
At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance, by Toulouse Lautrec, 1890
Some male patrons wanted to share the entertainment with the dancers.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Jules Cheret (1836-1932)’s training as a lithographer raised the poster to sophisticated heights. His Folies Bergere posters showed how simple the design was and how dominant the colour block was. Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) began designing posters in the early 1890s. For Bonnard, Moulin Rouge was an ideal place for inspiration; he used sober palette, refined, detailed composition in his paintings.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was an integral part of Paris nightlife. He documented the city’s bohemian night life in the 1880s & 1890s, frequenting the Moulin Rouge and other Montmartre cabarets where he attracted a large group of artists and intellectuals. He sat at a crowded nightclub table, drinking and sketching. The next morning in his studio he’d expand the sketches into full paintings. Lively posters by Lautrec thrilled the cabarets and music halls owners.
Because the Moulin Rouge closed for the summer, the same owners opened a summer branch. Called Jardin de Paris, this second business offered dance acts, songs, sketches and a ball in a outdoorsy, tree lined atmosphere. At the Chat Noir, Henri Riviëre and Georges Fragerolle designed Shadow Theatre which consisted of silhouettes cut out of zinc, manipulated in front of a screen and lit by back lighting. Shadow Theatre productions apparently had a profound influence on Lautrec's work.
The most famous tune associated with the cancan was written by Jacques Offenbach for his operetta Orpheus in the Underworld in 1858. The dance was originally titled the Infernal Galop and was first done by actors performing as the bawdy Olympian gods and Orpheus’ beloved Eurydice. He offered a brilliant view of how Parisian society and its wealthy visitors lived the high life, especially when Orpheus and cancan later became synonymous.
It is said that Paris was a seductive Babylon; that the cancan loosened the morals of an entire generation. Clearly British men couldn’t get to Paris fast enough!! But would Moulin Rouge and the cancan have been famous, if it wasn’t for artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Offenbach? Yes!
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After all Moulin Rouge patrons adored the ladies’ skin and undies, wild music etc. But would we know about Moulin Rouge today, 120 years later, if it wasn’t for the permanent art, literature and music? Possibly not.
The building burned in 1915 and was rebuilt in 1925. Today the Moulin Rouge is a musical and dance tourist attraction; the club's decor still embodies fin de siècle Paris.
The most famous tune associated with the cancan was written by Jacques Offenbach for his operetta Orpheus in the Underworld in 1858. The dance was originally titled the Infernal Galop and was first done by actors performing as the bawdy Olympian gods and Orpheus’ beloved Eurydice. He offered a brilliant view of how Parisian society and its wealthy visitors lived the high life, especially when Orpheus and cancan later became synonymous.
It is said that Paris was a seductive Babylon; that the cancan loosened the morals of an entire generation. Clearly British men couldn’t get to Paris fast enough!! But would Moulin Rouge and the cancan have been famous, if it wasn’t for artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Offenbach? Yes!
Cancan dancer. Was she wearing knickers under the petticoats?
The building burned in 1915 and was rebuilt in 1925. Today the Moulin Rouge is a musical and dance tourist attraction; the club's decor still embodies fin de siècle Paris.