Pyeongye
01Where you've seen it
In 1891 a huge poster went up on the walls of Paris. It advertised the Moulin Rouge cabaret, with the dancer La Goulue kicking up her heels in the middle. It was the first poster Toulouse-Lautrec ever made, and that one sheet made his name known across Paris.
Flat blocks of color, bold outlines, lettering you can read from across the street. Much of what we expect from a concert poster today is already there. He even shows up as a character in the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge!
02The real story
At the Moulin Rouge is not a poster but an oil painting on canvas, made between 1892 and 1895. Look at the top center. A short man walks beside a tall one. That short man is Toulouse-Lautrec himself. After he injured both legs as a teenager, his legs stopped growing.
At the far right, a woman's face lit a ghostly green juts into the frame. The artist came to this cabaret often and painted the people he met there. The man who made its loud advertisements was also quietly watching the night behind them.