Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is also famous for his works in poster art. His poster works were done in lithograph. Ever since he knew lithograph art, he decided this technique to be his most vital expressive medium. The catalogue of his work lists some 350 lithographs, about thirty of them are posters. His poster works have become a great inspiration and influence to many graphic artists to this day.

Moulin Rouge-La Goulue, (Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1891)

In the grat hall of “Moulin Rouge”, in the light of yellow lamps and surrounded by the black silhouettes of customers hungry for fun, La Goulue and Valentin-le Desosse are dancing. They are the attractions of the cabaret, opened just two years before, and both are at the peaks of their careers. In the foreground we see the half-figure of Valentin in a shimmering grey-green side-view silhouette, the effect of whichis at once both muted and hightened by the flat colouring and a stylized, curved use of the line. His shadowy, sketchy figure partly concealshis partner, swirling about behind him – the only person in the picture who is portrayed as anything other than a silhouette. She too, though, artistically simplified, and is very cleverly fitted into the composition, not fully visible to us but instead cut off by Valentin at the right and with her fluttering white dessous hidden at left by a set perspective devices: the lines of the floorboards lead to the rear, and the figures differ in size. Red and black lettering above it all tells us what is being advertised: the club where La Goulue performs and where there is a ball every evening.