Dancers at the Moulin Rouge
About this artwork
Melville made this sketch during his 1889 trip to Paris to see the Exposition Universelle. He was accompanied by fellow artists James Guthrie, Edward Arthur Walton and John Singer Sargent. The artists frequented the newly opened Moulin Rouge dance hall, and Melville made a number of studies of the dancers in his sketchbook. He has quickly captured the scene using a few rapid brushstrokes, producing an almost abstract composition. Areas of wet, running washes suggest the colours of the dancer’s bright tulle petticoats illuminated by footlights.
-
title:Dancers at the Moulin Rouge
-
accession number:D 5403
-
artist:
-
gallery:
-
object type:
-
subject:
-
materials:Watercolour on paper
-
date created:1889
-
measurements:9.40 x 15.50 cm
-
credit line:Purchased 1995
Arthur Melville
Arthur Melville
Melville's travels in Europe and the Middle East inspired his vibrant paintings in oil and watercolour. He developed a distinctive technique of watercolour painting, described as 'blottesque', using dabs of pigment on wet paper and blotting them with a sponge. Melville, born in Angus, studied painting in Edinburgh before moving…