Where can I see Jane Avril?

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.

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.

Why did Toulouse-Lautrec paint her?

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.

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.

Where to See Jane Avril: Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi

Jane Avril

by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893

StylePost-Impressionism

Palette

Year: 1893
Medium: Color lithograph
Size: 124 cm × 91.5 cm

Where to See It

Musée Toulouse-Lautrec

Albi, France

Permanently housed

Museum Website Buy Tickets

The Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1864–1901

French

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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.

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