If mid-nineteenth century Realist and Impressionist painters had elevated the everyday to the realms of aesthetic, scanningscenes of ordinary Parisian existence for its most humble, ordinary and serendipitous aspects, with Toulouse-Lautrec we see a further evolution of this trend, leading the painting of modern life to increasingly bold results. If the Impressionists were completely in thrall to their en plein airand landscape painting, Lautrec preferred to let himself be enchanted by the world of nightlife and its main characters. Lautrec was fascinated by the characters that populated Montmartre: his work seems to explore their peculiar mentalities, their notable physical features - always "other" with respect to the norm - and dig into their natural uniqueness. The performers who worked under the spotlights of Montmartre quickly became the stars of his work: from La Goulue, a showgirl who enjoyed a brief period of celebrity and then ended up a fat, forgotten alcoholic living in poverty, whose predatory animality Toulouse-Lautrec depicts clearly - to the Black dancer Chocolat, the diminutive and nimble Valentin le Désossé, the female clown Cha-U-Kao, and the entertainers Yvette Guilbert and Jane Avril. Lautrec became close friends with many of these characters. Among them, he was probably closest to Jane Avril, a cultured woman who appreciated his work and stayed by his side until the end. Lautrec reciprocated her support with sincere affection and admiration, and gifted her many of his paintings. Lautrec could not help but be attracted to someone like Jane Avril: the daughter of a prostitute and an Italian nobleman, she was committed to the infamous hysterics' ward at Salpêtrière Hospital at the age of fourteen, then started dancing at the Moulin Rouge, continued her career at Décadents and the Divan Japonais, and finally triumphed at the Folies-Bergère. If her fragile, somewhat ethereal appearance makes her stand out in this ambiguous setting, on stage Jane Avril becomes an acrobatic dancer full of energy and grace. Some of the artists depicted by Lautrec were already well-known performers who commissioned the painter for publicity - this is the case with Mary Belfort, who had herself depicted in her iconic red dress for the famous print on view in this exhibition - while others, such as Marcelle Lender, can thank Lautrec for undeniably increasing their fame.