Menu pour un Dîner chez May Belfort

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896

CzechoslovakiaLithograph in dark olive green ink

Minneapolis Institute of Art

After the success of his first poster for the Moulin Rouge nightclub in 1891, Lautrec's large-scale prints were commissioned by nearly all the leading performers of the era. Lautrec first saw the Irish singer May Egan (known as May Belfort), at the café concert Les Décadents in 1895, and shortly after meeting she commissioned him to create a large poster for her upcoming performance at the Petit Casino. He rendered her in the midst of her act—dressed in baby clothes, carrying a black kitten, and singing a sexually suggestive song in her Saxon accent. As with many of the performers Lautrec admired, he continued to use Belfort as a su