Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a born in Albi in 1864 to an aristocratic family. At a young age he broke both his legs within two years, and since they did not heal correctly, he stopped growing. He began painting at the age of ten. He studied with the artists L. J. F. Bonnat and Fernand Cormon. He also met Vincent Van Gogh, Emile Bernard, and Anquetin whom he formed the Petit Boulevard with in 1886. In 1889 he exhibited at the Salon de Indépendants and therefore drew himself a place as a post impressionist artist. When he grew up he continued painting and focused on mainly the bohemian night life starting in 1885. He stayed in the Montmartre area of Paris and enjoyed painting circuses, dance halls, nightclubs, racetracks and brothels. He especially focused on dancers, singers, and prostitutes. He painted, but he also made posters for the nightclubs and theaters. He used his talented sense of color and bold lines to create some of the very first posters. He was not just painting this fun-filled night life, he was living it as well, drinking and socializing while he painted. In 1891 he began painting scenes in and pamphlets for the Moulin Rouge, the performance location of the Parisian cabaret. Starting in 1894, he painted women in a local brothel. He was institutionalized in 1899 for his alcoholism and died in 1901.
The painting At The Moulin Rouge was painted in 1892. All of the people in the painting were real people whom Lautrec saw at the Moulin Rouge, including himself:
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