Jane Avril leaving the Moulin Rouge 1893

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec captured Jane Avril leaving the Moulin Rouge with oil on cardboard, creating a striking composition. The eye is drawn to the figure of Avril, whose dark blue outfit sharply contrasts with the painting’s overall warm yellow palette. This contrast creates an emotional response, evoking a sense of isolation. Lautrec masterfully uses line and colour to destabilize conventional perspective. The background merges into a flat plane, almost swallowing the other figures, rendering the space ambiguous. The composition focuses on the figure of Jane Avril to explore themes of modernity and representation. The dark hues against the yellow background can be interpreted through a semiotic lens, where colour acts as a signifier of her complex persona. Ultimately, the flattening of space is not a representational failure but a deliberate artistic choice. It serves to question fixed notions of depth and perspective, pushing us to reconsider how we perceive space, form, and representation.