Dancers at the Moulin Rouge is a sketch made by Scottish artist Arthur Melville while visiting Paris with fellow artists James Guthrie, Edward Arthur Walton and John Singer Sargent. The group often visited the new dance hall, the Moulin Rouge, which is considered the origin of the can-can dance and inspired the Baz Luhrman musical of the same name. The sketch ostensibly depicts a group of dancers; however, the watercolours have bled creating an abstract-like image. Despite no part of the sketch being recognisable as a single object, the painting nonetheless conveys a powerful and joyful mood. The vibrant colours and bleeding lines create a sense of movement and exuberance, the painting feels lively and exciting, similar to watching dancers perform on stage. The Moulin Rouge became a symbol of the Belle Époque—a so-called age of prosperity and industry in France which began in the 1880s and ended with the start of the First World War. When it was built, the Moulin Rouge epitomised an exciting new era of optimism and opulence, however as the country’s economy declined so did the dance hall and it burnt down in 1915. It reopened in 1925 but never again reached its turn of the century heights and today is mostly a tourist attraction. Melville’s painting captures the mood of the Belle Époque and serves as a time capsule for that historical moment.
Dancers at the Moulin Rouge by Arthur Melville is licensed under Creative Commons CC by NC