During the late 19th century in Paris, the night was filled with the sounds of raucous laughter, tenor voices, and elephant cries. The cabaret, opera, and circus appealed to aristocrats, poets, bankers and barmaids. A fine line divided the cabaret, opera, and circus: performers moved within this circle of entertainment--circus clowns moonlighted as cabaret acts and prostitutes accompanied wealthy men to the opera. None captured the spirit of the fin de siècle as vibrantly as the Parisian artists. Impressionists Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Post-Impressionists Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat immortalized the subcultures of Paris.

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