She appeared at the Moulin Rouge when it first opened and danced the chahut (a form of can can) with her long-limbed partner, Jacques Renaudin, a wine merchant by day who at night became Valentin le Désossé, literally translated as "Valentin the boneless."

She earned her nickname by her habit of draining the glasses dry in bars. Brought up by a laundress mother, her greatest pleasure consisted of trying on the fine clothing of customers. At sixteen she took a job in a laundry in the Rue de la Goutte d'Or which is described in Emile Zola's novel L'Assommoir. Her mind, however, was focused on dancing. Without her mother's knowledge, she borrowed garments left by customers and made her entrance each evening at the local dance halls.

Distinguishing herself not only as a dancer but also as a laughing, extroverted high-stepper, she soon attracted attention. She fell in love with the painter Auguste Renoir, who introduced her to la louée, a popular group of models who posed nude for many artists. Through these connections she found her way to increasingly more fashionable clubs. When Joseph Oller met her, he immediately engaged her to dance the grand quadrille at the Moulin Rouge. Thus she rose from anonymity to become the queen of Parisian sensuality.

She danced on tables, displayed the heart embroidered on her drawers, and removed gentlemen's hats with her toe at the end of her galop. For this she earned about eight hundred francs per month, not counting her touring fees. Soon a wealthy woman with a home in Montmartre and a carriage of her own, she considered herself very much the reigning queen. By 1895 she was thoroughly bored, and announced her departure from the Moulin Rouge to set up her own business. She invested an enormous sum in a fairground booth and decided to specialize in belly-dancing. She believed that Paris would continue to come to her, but was disappointed in the response. La Goulue without the Moulin Rouge was a failure.

Her fall was as spectacular as her rise. She drank more and spent the rest of her fortune in high living and foolish business investments, including a partnership in an animal-taming act. Alcoholic, homeless, and old before her time, in 1925 she was found toothless and white-haired in Neuilly-sur-Marne. She returned to Montmartre in 1928 selling peanuts, cigarettes, and matches on the streets near the Moulin Rouge. No one recognized the former queen. She died in 1929, telling a priest that she was "La Goulue."

Posters featuring La Goulue:

• Moulin Rouge - La Goulue

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