Le Reve 1890

Theophile Steinlen is best remembered for cats and Montmartre street life, which makes Le Reve of 1890 a fascinating surprise from his hand. It is the kind of poster that quietly rewrites what you thought you knew about an artist.

This poster promotes the ballet Le Reve, an Asian-inspired stage spectacle built around a single magical prop. The composition gives pride of place to the giant fan that unfurls onstage during the first act, struck by an enchanted arrow to launch an elaborate dream sequence. Steinlen leans fully into the fantastical, ornamental character of the production, and the result showcases a versatility his social work rarely reveals, proof that the chronicler of everyday Paris could conjure pure theatrical enchantment when the occasion called for it. The oversized fan, poised at the moment of the enchanted arrow's strike, becomes a threshold between the waking stage and the dream it unlocks, and Steinlen fills the design with the exotic ornament and rich colour the production demanded.

Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923) was a Swiss-French Art Nouveau artist famed for his tender scenes of Montmartre and the graceful cats that prowl through so much of his work, including the immortal Chat Noir cabaret poster. A sharp-eyed observer of ordinary life, he brought warmth, humour and humane sympathy to the commercial poster, and pieces like Le Reve remind us how wide his imaginative range truly was.

Art Nouveau swept across Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, sweeping away rigid academic convention for sinuous 'whiplash' lines, botanical ornament and idealised figures. It was the movement that first turned the humble advertising poster into genuine art and made the city street an open-air gallery.

Dreamlike and ornamental, this print carries an air of theatrical fantasy. It suits a living room, bedroom, study or hallway, works beautifully above a console or reading chair, and brings an unexpected note to a gallery wall of Art Nouveau and vintage French prints.

Printed to order on premium 189 gsm museum-grade archival matte paper with fade-resistant pigment inks for rich, gallery-quality colour and crisp detail. Choose your size from the drop-down menu - 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 or 24x36 inches. Carefully packaged and shipped rolled in a sturdy tube, or flat in the smallest size; frame not included.

This is a faithful fine-art reproduction of the original stone lithograph, colour-matched and printed to archival standards rather than a flat mass-market copy. It preserves the texture and character of the antique poster while arriving crisp, clean and ready to frame.

A distinctive gift for lovers of Steinlen, ballet and vintage French art - and a lasting way to bring a piece of Art Nouveau theatre into a home, studio or workplace. Reproduced from a high-resolution scan of the original lithograph; subtle age-toning is part of its authentic historic character.