Where Is Jane Avril? See It at Musée Toulouse-Lautrec

Q: Who was Jane Avril?

Jane Avril (1868-1943) was a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Born Jeanne Beaudon, she had a traumatic childhood and was treated at the Salpêtrière hospital. Dancing became her escape. She was considered more refined and melancholic than other Moulin Rouge performers.

Q: What style is this work?

Toulouse-Lautrec's posters blend Post-Impressionism with commercial graphic art. His flat areas of color, bold outlines, and dynamic compositions were influenced by Japanese prints. He essentially invented the modern advertising poster as an art form.

Q: How big are the posters?

The famous 1893 lithograph poster measures approximately 124 cm × 91.5 cm (48.8 × 36 inches). Toulouse-Lautrec's posters were printed in editions of about 3,000 and plastered across Paris streets. Today, original prints are highly collectible and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec created several posters and paintings of Jane Avril, a star performer at the Moulin Rouge. The most famous poster dates to 1893 and shows her mid-dance, one leg kicked high, her thin frame accentuated by the swirling lines of her dress. At the bottom, a double bass player's instrument frames the composition.

Avril was different from other cancan dancers. Where her rival La Goulue performed with aggressive energy, Avril moved with a nervous, jerky grace that earned her the nickname "La Mélinite" after a type of explosive. She and Lautrec became close friends, not just artist and subject. When Lautrec was committed to an asylum in 1899, Avril commissioned his final poster partly as an act of kindness.

The lithograph measures roughly 129 by 94 centimeters. Copies exist in museums worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Lautrec used multiple lithographic stones, one for each color: black, orange, yellow, and green.

Toulouse-Lautrec's posters and paintings of Jane Avril are in several museums. The most famous poster (1893) is at the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, France. Toulouse-Lautrec depicted her many times across different media.

Jane Avril (1868-1943) was a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Born Jeanne Beaudon, she had a traumatic childhood and was treated at the Salpêtrière hospital. Dancing became her escape. She was considered more refined and melancholic than other Moulin Rouge performers.

Toulouse-Lautrec's posters blend Post-Impressionism with commercial graphic art. His flat areas of color, bold outlines, and dynamic compositions were influenced by Japanese prints. He essentially invented the modern advertising poster as an art form.

They were close friends. Unlike his more commercial commissions, his depictions of Avril show genuine affection and respect. She was intelligent and bookish, unlike the stereotype of Montmartre entertainers. Toulouse-Lautrec captured her distinctive style: elegant, slightly reserved, with a characteristic high-kicking dance.

The famous 1893 lithograph poster measures approximately 124 cm × 91.5 cm (48.8 × 36 inches). Toulouse-Lautrec's posters were printed in editions of about 3,000 and plastered across Paris streets. Today, original prints are highly collectible and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Jane Avril

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