Scene of Festivities at the Moulin Rouge

The Moulin Rouge opened in October 1889 on the boulevard de Clichy, at the foot of Montmartre, and when Boldini painted it he turned his back on the stage. What he gives us is the room itself. Men in top hats, women in bonnets, bentwood chairs, a waiter carrying a tray, all of it against a long red wall. A woman with a spray of red feathers at her shoulder leans an arm on a chair back, a gold bracelet at her wrist. The brushwork races, and in places the canvas stays a sketch, with chairs and tablecloths barely more than a few strokes. The drinker beside her, raising his glass, is said to have Boldini's own features. The painting reached the Musée d'Orsay in 2010 as a dation, a work accepted by the State in payment of tax.