Due to the success of the exhibition, Caumont will close exceptionally at 7 p.m. on Saturdays 7, 14 and 21 March.
Conference
Montmartre and its artistic life in the time of Toulouse-Lautrec
Saturday, July 4, 2026Conference presented by Laurent Genest
In Toulouse-Lautrec's day, the Montmartre district was the heart of Parisian artistic life. At the time, it had the feel of a village with its windmills. Attracted by a popular and cosmopolitan society, attractive rents (and the presence of artists' studios such as the Bateau-Lavoir, created in 1889), many painters came to settle there to work, and also to enjoy the many attractions such as the guinguettes and cabarets such as the famous Chat Noir, Moulin Rouge, Mirliton and Lapin Agile. Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, and Pissarro all frequented Père Tanguy's shop on Rue Clauzel.
Presentation of the speaker
Laurent Genest
National Lecturer. After studying art history and archaeology at the École du Louvre and the University of Paris I – Sorbonne, where he also lectured for several years, Laurent Genest has continued his research on our contemporary relationship with works of art in general, and with reproductions of artworks in particular. He was one of the founding members, at the University of the Sorbonne, of the Critical Observatory of Digital Resources in Art History and Archaeology, now hosted on the CNRS website (https://observatoire-critique.hypotheses.org/). He regularly organizes cultural trips in France and abroad. He is a member of ICOM (the International Council of Museums) and has published several contributions on the topic of the virtual museum in specialized journals.