Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Le Bateau-Lavoir is an old piano factory transformed in 1889 into artist workshops by owner Maillard. Located in 13 Place Émile-Goudeau in Montmartre, its wooden and brick structure, with a back façade below, evokes a boat, while its spartan conditions (a single point of water for 25 tenants) give it the ironic nickname of "Lavoir". The derisory rents attract poor artists, who live there in a destitution conducive to artistic experimentation, using unusual materials such as coffee marc or waxed canvas.

By 1904, the place became a home of the international avant-garde. Pablo Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), marking the birth of cubism, while figures such as Modigliani, Van Dongen, and Brancusi crossed. The Douanier Rousseau was celebrated at a banquet in 1908. Despite its influence, the Bateau-Lavoir declined after World War I, competed by Montparnasse. A fire in 1970 destroyed it almost entirely, leaving only the facade. Reconstructed to the same concrete in 1978, it preserves its 25 glass workshops, visible from the Louise-Weber-dite-La-Goulue garden.

The history of the Bateau-Lavoir reflects the precarious but fertile conditions of the Parisian artistic bohemian. Artists share poverty and creativity, transforming constraints (cold, humidity, promiscuity) into sources of inspiration. The place symbolizes the effervescence of Montmartre before its gentrification, where cabarets, guinguettes and workshops coexist. Today, there remains an architectural testimony of that time, partially classified as historical monuments since 1965.

The name "Bateau-Lavoir" has several explanations: Max Jacob would have nicknamed it by irony, evoking the only washbasin for all residents, or seeing laundry drying at the windows. Another hypothesis links his appearance to the Seine's wash-boats, where the lavender trees worked. The inland distribution, with a narrow corridor reminiscent of a liner course, reinforces this maritime metaphor.

Among the notable residents are the Spaniards around Paco Durrio (1900–1904), the Italians like Ardengo Soffici, or the Dutch Otto Van Rees and Kees van Dongen. Fernande Olivier, Picasso's companion, lived there in 1901. Mexican Diego Rivera will stay there in 1909. The place, nicknamed the "Villa Medici of Modern Painting", embodies the collaborative and transnational spirit of nascent art.

Future

A fire which had seriously damaged it in May 1970 (only the facade remains), it was completely rebuilt in 1978 and still has 25 artists' workshops. Visible from the Burq garden located at the back of the building, they help maintain the reputation of the place.

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