Toulouse Lautrec’s paintings and posters depict the public and private aspects of life inside the Moulin Rouge; although his vision can be considered personal, it is a reference to “La Belle Époque.” He immortalized many dancers, among them the most famous: Jane Avril, whose figure remained for posterity in more than one painting.
Who Was Jane Avril?
Her real name was Jeanne Beaudoin, born in Paris in 1868, as a result of a fleeting love between Elisa and the Italian aristocrat Luigi di Font. Her mother was a demimonde, that is, a kind of courtesan supported by wealthy lovers.
After being severely beaten by her mother, Jane fled, but the authorities found her and, given her aggressive reaction to being caught, locked her up in an asylum for the mentally ill, where she was treated by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, a specialist in “hysterical women.” It was precisely there, during a dance for the hospital employees, that the young girl’s dancing attracted attention.
Jane Avril, Toulouse Lautrec, and the Moulin Rouge
In 1889, she was hired at the Moulin Rouge, and in a short time, she became the first figure at the Jardin de Paris, an important café-concert on the Champs Elysées. The popularity of the cancan became so great that Jane traveled to London to show her art to the English.
Arthur Simons, an Englishman, described her as a tall, slender figure, full of grace and distinction, with blue eyes. “She had a devilish genius, apart from which she was always adorable and excitable…a creature of cruel passions; she was reputed to be a lesbian… I have never known a woman who felt such an absolute passion for her own beauty. She danced in front of the mirror in the orchestra pit because she was crazy about her body. She was so incredibly thin and flexible that she could bend backward – like Salome when she danced before Herod and Herodias – until she swept the floor with her shoulders.”
It is said that she was the freest and most joyful of all the dancers of the Moulin Rouge, a friend of painters and writers. One of them was naturally Toulouse Lautrec. The painter and the unique dancer shared a very close friendship since Lautrec was often commissioned to paint her to promote the iconic French venue. Both Avril and Lautrec’s art and essence made the Moulin Rouge and the Belle Époque the romantic sensation they became.
Jane Avril’s Last and Tragic Years
She lived for some time with Alphonse Allais, who wanted to marry her, but Jane refused, trying to avoid any ties. However, when she turned 42, she married the artist Maurice Biais. He died in 1926, and Jane was left almost broke, having to live on what little savings she had left. She died in an old people’s home in 1943, at the age of 75, and is buried in the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
