The painting At the Moulin-Rouges represents specific characters of the Paris nightlife at Montmartre at the end of the 19th century. The clown Cha-U-Kao is one of the women in the dancing couple; the chanson singer Jane Avril is behind her, turning her back to the spectator. Lautrec followed the tradition of French painting depicting social scenes. Unlike the realists, he was not content with the depiction of the scene, he impressed his personal experience in the paintings, identifying himself with people on the edge of society.