Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) was transformed by his discovery of the Montmartre section in Paris. He devoted his artistic talent to painting this unique microcosm, with its intriguing blend of the vulgar and the aristocratic, and his favorite haunts the Moulin Rouge, the Moulin de la Galette, the Mirliton, The Chat Noir, and the Cabaret of Aristide Bruant. Toulouse-Lautrec is remembered above all as a witty and playful observer of his age.

It was in his portraits of the diverse cast of the people of Montmartre that he could most freely express himself as a caricaturist, acclaimed in his lifetime as a poster designer and illustrator. It was only a few years after his death that he became famous as a painter.