Original Jules Chéret Poster "Bal Au Moulin Rouge", 1889 - Imp. Chaix

This is an original lithographic poster created in 1889 by Jules Chéret for the Bal au Moulin Rouge — printed in the very year the Moulin Rouge opened its doors on the Boulevard de Clichy in Montmartre, on the 6th of October 1889. This is not merely a historic document: it is the original announcement of one of the most legendary entertainments venues in the history of Western culture, at the precise moment Paris was also hosting the Exposition Universelle and unveiling the Eiffel Tower. The world was watching Paris, and Paris was dancing at the Moulin Rouge.

Jules Chéret (1836–1932), the undisputed father of the modern poster and recipient of the Légion d'honneur for his contribution to the graphic arts, was the natural choice to announce this new temple of pleasure. It was Chéret who had invented the large-format colour lithographic poster in its modern form — who had turned the walls of Paris into a living gallery, who had created the joyful, luminous, spirited Chérette that became the visual emblem of the Belle Époque. The Moulin Rouge and Chéret were made for each other: both were expressions of the same impulse — to celebrate life, pleasure, movement and colour with the fullest possible intensity.

This poster predates the far more widely known Toulouse-Lautrec Moulin Rouge poster of 1891 by two full years. Chéret's version captures the cabaret at its very beginning — before it became myth, before Lautrec immortalised La Goulue, before the cancan became the symbol of Montmartre to the whole world. It is a rarer and in many ways more historically significant object: the original announcement of a legend, by the man who invented the art form that announced it.

The poster has been freshly linen backed — the gold standard of vintage poster conservation — with professional restorations carried out on tears and areas of wear, ensuring the piece is stable, flat, and ready for framing. See pictures for full condition details.

A once-in-a-generation piece — Chéret, the Moulin Rouge, and the night Paris invented itself.