Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge

1892

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Artist, French, 1864 - 1901

A man and woman standing with their backs to us face a room where others stand or pose in this vertical painting. Though made with oil on cardboard, the paint is applied loosely with visible strokes so the painting looks more like a pastel drawing. The people have peach-colored or mint-green skin. Cut off by the left edge of the painting, the man wears a black top hat and suit. We only see the short blond hair behind one ear and the jutting cheekbone and jaw of his profile. The woman takes up almost the left half of the picture. She wears a flat, brown coat outlined in royal blue, a fur stole around her neck, and a blue hat with flowers. Her brown hair is pulled up, and she looks to our right in profile with pale, nearly ash-white skin. Across from the couple, to our right and farther into the room, a woman wearing a teal-green dress stands with her feet planted wide so her feet flare out and her hands on her hips. Her body is squared toward the couple, and she looks off to our left. A black hat perches on her yellow hair, which is piled atop her head. She cocks one eyebrow over green eyes, and her lips curl in a lopsided sneer over a double chin. A tawny-brown corset under her bust cinches her waist. She gathers the skirt in fistfuls with each hand to reveal white petticoats and black boots or shoes. Two more people stand facing away from us behind her and to our left. Seen between the first pair and this woman, the man here also wears a black top hat and suit, and he has orange hair. The woman has brown hair. Her bodice is vivid pink, and the skirt is dark brown. An arc of white from the hem of her skirt up to her head suggests she has flung that side of the skirt up. Another woman’s face cast with green is tucked between the heads of the first couple. That woman looks off to our left under lifted brows with a drooping mouth. The two couples face a structure with columns supporting a roof, probably a bandstand, in the upper right quadrant of the composition. The ground in the lower half of the picture is streaked with sable brown and olive green. The rest of the background behind the bandstand is filled with sea green against the brown board on which this was painted. An indistinct red mark in the lower right corner has the artist’s initials intertwined, “HTL.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 80

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on cardboard

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 81 x 59.8 cm (31 7/8 x 23 9/16 in.)
    framed: 104.1 x 83.5 cm (41 x 32 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.221

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Louis Bouglé [1964-1924], Paris; sold to (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris). (Wildenstein & Co., New York); sold 18 October 1928 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1898

  • Exhibition of International Art, The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London, 1898, no. 23.

1931

  • Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, 1931, no. 93

  • Lautrec - Redon, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1931, no. 20, repro.

  • Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1931, no. 20, repro.

1935

  • L'Impressionisme, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1935, no. 86 [wrong repro.]

  • Independent Painters of Nineteenth Century Paris, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1935, no. 53, repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1980

  • Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting 1880-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, no. 119, repro.

1994

  • Toulouse-Lautrec: Marcelle Lender in "Chilpéric", National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994-1995, not in brochure.

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 51, repro.

1931

  • Dale, Maud. "Amerika und Europa." Kunst und Künstler (1931):repro. 241.

1936

  • Bulliet, C. J. The Significant Moderns and Their Pictures. New York, 1936: repro. no. 120.

1939

  • Slocombe, George. Rebels of Art, Manet to Matisse. New York, 1939:plate 25.

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 80, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 80, repro.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 88, repro.

1956

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 58, repro.

1959

  • Evans, Grose. French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Two in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 34, color repro.

1960

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 26.

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 170, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 278, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 132.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130, repro.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:476, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 118, repro.

1971

  • Dortu, M.G. Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre. 6 vols. New York, 1971:II:P424, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 350, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 526, no. 791, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 402, repro.

  • Athill, Philip. "The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers." Burlington Magazine 127, no. 982 (January 1985): 25

1991

  • Néret, Gilles. Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris, 1991: repro. p. 73.

  • O'Connor, Patrick. Nightlife of Paris. New York, 1991:38, repro. plate 7.

  • Stevenson, Lesley. H. de Toulouse Lautrec. London, 1991:107, repro. p. 75

1997

  • Tamura, Ryuichi. Lautrec Story. Japan, 1997: 17, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right atelier stamp in red: HTL (Lugt 1338)

Wikidata ID

Q20190332

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