Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901), La Goulue and Her Sister at the Moulin Rouge (Au Moulin Rouge, La Goulue et sa sœur), 1892. Color lithograph, 20 1/4 × 16 3/16 in. (51.44 × 41.12 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley. M1977.45.
Toulouse-Lautrec revolutionized color lithography in the 1890s. Drawing his subject matter from the dance halls, cabarets, and brothels of fin-de-siècle Paris, he created a vibrant world with flat planes of color and daring irregular angles. Here he depicts the dance hall star La Gouloue on the arm of her sister. Even with her back to the viewer, La Gouloue, with her insouciant posture and distinctive red topknot—created with a haze of red-orange spatter—is immediately recognizable.
