At the Moulin Rouge

French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this At the Moulin Rouge between 1892 and 1895, populating it with portraits of the legendary nightclub's regulars. The diminutive artist appears in the center background with his tall cousin, Dr. Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran. At the table sit writer Édouard Dujardin, dancer La Macarona, and photographers Paul Secau and Maurice Guibert.

The most striking figure is singer May Milton at the right edge, her face lit an acid green that suggests the harsh artificial lighting of the cabaret. At some point, the canvas was cut down to remove her, perhaps to make the work easier to sell. By 1914, the cut section had been reattached.

Toulouse-Lautrec had been associated with the Moulin Rouge since its 1889 opening, when the owner bought his painting for the foyer. This work hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.