Le Chahut

1889–90

Oil on canvas. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

Dancers perform on a dance-hall stage while a double-bass player and a conductor work in the foreground. A rowdy night out becomes a carefully planned, almost stiff design.

A popular dance becomes the subject of a large, serious canvas. Painters in this circle often treated city nightlife as part of modern life, a scene of freedom and spectacle.
Look at the lines: legs, the conductor's hand, the bass neck and even the flowers in the background point upward.
The dancers repeat one another like types rather than individual portraits.
Warm artificial light is built from tiny dots, short lines and combinations of color.
Today it hangs on display in the Kröller-Müller Museum at Otterlo.

This bold offshoot of the cancan was performed by both sexes. Its female dancers raised their hems and showed their legs, which made it a risqué spectacle.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · PD-Art