La Goulue: The Scandalous Cancan Queen who Inspired Toulouse-Lautrec

   3635    11
La Goulue: The Scandalous Cancan Queen who Inspired Toulouse-Lautrec
You only have a few weeks to re-discover the modernity of Toulouse-Lautrec in the tribute exhibition that the Grand Palais dedicates to the painter. Despite his noble origins, he was an outcast and felt more at ease in the underworld of actors and prostitutes than the rarefied surroundings which could have been his by birth. In the Paris of the roaring 1890s, Toulouse-Lautrec loved frequenting the cabaret, in particular the most modern of all, the Moulin Rouge. Relegated today to the status of a classic Paris attraction, the French cancan was at the time a strikingly liberating dance, made famous by stars like La Goulue, immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec in this advertising poster for the theater. La Goulue, born in Alsace in 1866 as Louise Weber, had inherited a passion for dancing from her mother, a laundress. As soon as her family moved to Clichy, a working-class suburb of Paris, Louise started frequenting ballrooms and cabarets, while working like her mother as a laundress. At the Moulin de la Galette, in Montmartre, Louise met painters like Auguste Renoir and budding photographers, for whom she started sitting as a model, sometimes in the nude, to complement the meagre takings from her laundering activity. Her lucky break came in 1885 when she partnered with dancer Jules Étienne Edme Renaudin, better known under his stage name of Valentin le Désossé (Boneless Valentin). They started forming a successful stage duo performing the quadrille, soon dancing at the Moulin Rouge, the temple of French cancan. The cancan was a scandalous dance, with skirts flying, high kicks and provocative gyrations revealing the frilly underwear of the performers. Initially danced by men as a jest, then by both sexes in popular ballrooms, soon female stage dancers realized the potential of the chahut (literally, racket) to entertain the male audience who frequented the cabarets. Louise, perfectly at ease in this shady environment, soon became a sassy solo performer. Her contagious joie de vivre, channelled into the cancan, made her the first star of the Moulin Rouge, under the stage name of La Goulue (the glutton). The nickname came from her habit of downing the glasses of patrons she danced for at the balls she frequented, and it was a fitting description also for her thirst for life. Her signature move was the coup de cul (literally, back shot), where she lifted her skirts while turning her back to the audience, to reveal her derrière. La Goulue was a larger than life character even off stage. Flouting the rules of decency, she walked around with a billy-goat on a leash, as no woman was supposed to frequent public places unaccompanied by a gentleman. Fiercely independent, she refused to become a kept woman, as many other cabaret stars did. She chose her lovers indifferently amongst the working classes and the nobility, her most famous affair however rumored to have been with the future King of England, Edward VII (an inveterate playboy in his youth, with a marked penchant for actresses and dancers). La Goulue left the Moulin Rouge at the apogee of her fame to set up shop alone. Understanding the power of her image, she asked her friend Toulouse-Lautrec to paint two canvases advertising her shows, to be hung outside her makeshift theatre, a stand at the popular Foire du Trône, the largest funfair in Paris. Her solo venture was not as successful as she hoped, even when she turned into a makeshift circus tamer. Commercial failure and personal tragedy (her only love child died at just 27) made her sink into alcoholism and she died, sick and alone, in 1929, only a shadow of the indomitable woman of her cancan dancing days. If you wish to to find out more about the golden age of La Goulue and the underworld of cabarets and demi-mondaines, head to the Grand Palais for the Toulouse-Lautrec retrospective. “Toulouse-Lautrec: Resolutely Modern” is on at Grand Palais until January 27, 2020.
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • ALREADY SUBSCRIBED?

Lead photo credit : La Goulue as seen at the exhibit “Toulouse-Lautrec: Résolument Moderne”. Photo: Sarah Bartesaghi Truong

More in cabaret, Montmartre, moulin rouge, Paris cabaret, Toulouse-Lautrec

Previous Article Four Influential Feminist Women in French History
Next Article Stealing the Mona Lisa


Sarah Bartesaghi Truong has lived, studied and worked in Milan, Paris and London. Her lifelong passion for art in all its forms and her entrepreneurial dreams were the catalyst for a career change: she left the world of investment banking to go back to school, at the Sotheby’s Institute of London. Ten years ago, she moved back to Paris, the ideal location for an art-lover. As an Italian in Paris, she decided she would keep playing the tourist in her adoptive home town, always on the lookout for the many wonders the French capital has to offer to the curious explorer. VeniVidiParis, the company she founded, plans curated itineraries in the French capital and its vicinity for travellers wishing to discover the city’s vibrant art scene, but not only. Take a look at her recent discoveries on her Instagram feed, @venividiparis, or contact her at [email protected] for help planning your next Parisian vacation.

Comments

  • Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    2020-02-18 11:22:26
    Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    Thank you Ted! Best, Sarah

    REPLY

  • Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    2020-02-18 11:21:19
    Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    Thanks Brenda! At least you did take in the art twice, which in itself is already a true gift. Best, Sarah

    REPLY

  • Ted Holloway
    2020-01-17 17:13:49
    Ted Holloway
    Fascinating article about a larger than life character.Visited her last resting place in Monmartre Cmetery,Thank You.

    REPLY

  • Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    2020-01-17 16:14:49
    Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    Thank you Dennis. I have not seen her tomb, will try to go see it. Sarah

    REPLY

  • Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    2020-01-17 16:13:27
    Sarah Bartesaghi Truong
    Thank you Hazel! Sarah

    REPLY

  • Dennis
    2020-01-17 15:57:47
    Dennis
    This is a very interesting article about a person in a fascinating time and place. For whatever it's worth, La Goulue's tomb in Montmartre Cemetery is very dignified.

    REPLY

  • Nancy flemming
    2020-01-17 13:17:33
    Nancy flemming
    I just spent Christmas and New Yesrs in Paris, taking my children for their first trip to Paris. We saw the exhibit and the kids went ice skating that evening. One of many perfect days for them in Paris.

    REPLY

  • Brenda
    2020-01-17 06:36:23
    Brenda
    Excellent article thank you. I’ve seen the exhibition twice but both times with American friends who didn’t want to soend much time studying. I misse out!

    REPLY

  • Hazel Smith
    2020-01-13 20:49:49
    Hazel Smith
    Great article!

    REPLY

  • Sarah
    2020-01-11 11:44:12
    Sarah
    Glad you enjoyed it Beth... Have you seen the exhibition? I found it very moving... Have a lovely weekend, Sarah

    REPLY

  • Beth Gersh-Nesic
    2020-01-10 11:44:13
    Beth Gersh-Nesic
    Fabulous, Sarah! Mille Grazie. Beth

    REPLY