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Montmartre
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At the end of the 19th century, Montmartre was the center of artistic life in Paris, as well as a model of uninhibited bohemian lifestyle. Many artists, including Berlioz and Picasso, lived, worked, and played in this thriving hillside community. Creative spirits such as these, or perhaps the lifestyle they enjoyed, turned Montmartre into a mecca for writers, poets, and artists alike. Many came to share talents, while others came to sample the area's bordellos, cabarets, revues and other exotica--a phenomenon that ultimately created an off-color reputation of Montmartre among Paris' more "upstanding" citizens. The nightlife is still available in Montmartre, but since the dispersal of many of its writers and artists, it lacks a bit of the original charm. Nevertheless, some say Montmartre is inseparable from its art.
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With its 130 meters, the Butte Montmartre, crowned by the Sacre Coeur, is the highest Paris' "summit". There are two different stories about the name "Montmatre" origin : the official one beeing 'Mont de Mercure', but, a 13th century legend states that it comes from 'Mont des Martyrs' and refers to those, who, with Saint Denis (the first Paris' bishop), were killed here for their faith in the 3th century. From the 12th century to the Revoution (1789) Montmartre housed an important and powerfull benedictine Abbaye. In 1790, Montmartre was divided in two (uphill and downhill). While the downhill part was quite imediately re-included in Paris, the uphill one grew as a prosperous village until the 19th century and kept some independance, even after being attached to Paris in 1860 (and took an important part in the 'Commune' revolution in 1871). This independant status appealed to artists, especially painters (like Vernet, Géricault, Corot, Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh, Utrillo, Picasso, ....) who moved to the Butte Montmartre during all the 19th century and the begining of the 20th.
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Set upon a butte, or hill, and removed from the city center, Montmartre had an identity distinct from central Paris. Its rural roots were evident at the end of the century, when working windmills still dotted the landscape. Narrow, winding, and haphazard streets ... contrasted Montmartre with central Paris, where Baron Haussmann’s urban modernization plan had created a coherent design with broad avenues and uniform street lamps. Considered a semirural, working-class area, which was not incorporated into the city limits until 1860, Montmartre was unaffected by Haussmann’s urban renewal and consequently retained its character. Montmartre’s separation from central Paris—geographically, demographically, historically, and architecturally—set the stage for the decadent fringe culture that arose in the district on the butte.
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Set upon a butte, or hill, and removed from the city center, Montmartre had an identity separate from that of central Paris, which was then governed by the conservative Third Republic. The neighborhood attracted artists of all types. Some came seeking fame and fortune, while others just wished to revel in the Bohemian atmosphere. For these artists, the vibrant culture of Montmartre, with its unbridled energy, tawdry behavior, garish colors, and provocative celebrities, was both a way to live and a subject to depict. Lautrec, who labeled Montmartre as “outside the law,” immersed himself in this decadent culture, painting and drawing by day and dwelling in the cafés and cabarets by night.
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Probably more attracted by the modest price of the rents than by its picturesque mount, Montmartre very quickly became the rendez-vous of artists. Painters, sculptors, writers and poets were among the first to settle here. Among the most famous, were Augustus Renoir, Gérard of Nerval, Utrillo, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso. It was the era of the "washhouse" or true camaraderie. Times when one and all – penniless -- traveled the streets of Montmartre in quest of a served dinner in exchange for a picture or a poem. Late at night all would meet again at the "Lapin Agile" where they knew that the owner, the old Frédé, and his wife Berthe, would not let them leave with empty stomachs.
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Montmartre was especially famous during the period at the end of the 19th century and at the start of the 20th century. It became a centre for artists, writers and poets, attracted in part by the bars, brothels and cabarets here. One of the most famous cabaret theatres was the Moulin Rouge (meaning "red windmill"), which opened in 1889. The high-kicking dance called the can-can was created here. Toulouse-Lautrec drew many famous paintings which captured the spirit of the performers and audiences at that time.
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