Paris

Moulin Rouge

Famous in the whole world thanks to the film released in 2001 is perhaps today, next to the Lido, the most famous cabaret in Paris. Opened in full Belle Epoque in 1889, to prepare for the flow of visitors due to the great Universal Exhibition held in Paris. The same year that the Eiffel Tower was created, to cater for millions of people it was also necessary to build a luxury cabaret.

At the time it was a much humbler place than it is today. Attention, that the cabaret is not only semi-naked women dancing. The cabaret, by definition, is a variety show that combines independent numbers: Women danced to the rhythm of can-can, a circus show decorated the place, magicians, songs and mythical characters such as the painter Toulouse-Lautrec "lived" literally in the place leaving us famous paintings that portrayed and immortalize that festive life of the Belle Epoque. The important thing is that they were in small spaces to allow direct contact between the public and the artist. Hence the origin of the word "cabaret", small bedroom.

In 1874 the artistic movement known as 'Impressionism' had begun and many of its exponents were assiduous assistants to this type of spectacle. It is impossible to separate the Moulin Rouge from the figure of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), an extraordinary exponent of French art who dominated all pictorial techniques but became one of the greatest posters of his era. He immortalized in his work the Moulin Rouge creating the perfect symbiosis between the artist and the theme.

Impressionist painters and artists from around the world succumbed to the charm of the festive atmosphere, including the writer Oscar Wilde, the painter Vincent Van Gogh, Renoir and many others. Also in other more recent times, artists such as Edith Piaf, Ives Montand, Charles Aznavour, and Fran Sinatra have paraded.