# Moulin de la Galette

- By: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)
- Date: 1889
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 88.5 × 101.3 cm (35 7/8 × 39 5/8 in.); Framed: 109.3 × 123.2 × 12.1 cm (43 × 48 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/14664)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/156aaed6-fe3c-a13c-f39e-55f381205929/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

With this painting of the dance hall known as the Moulin de la Galette, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec established his reputation as the chronicler of the Montmartre district’s famed nightlife. A wooden barrier bisects the composition, dividing the frenzied action of the dance floor in the background from the stillness of the women waiting in the foreground. Toulouse-Lautrec used turpentine to thin his paint and applied it in loose washes, a technique known as peinture à l’essence. The result is a sketchy style that conveys both the immediacy of the artist’s observations and the tawdry atmosphere of his subject.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0