Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1891

Art Noveau is an international style of decoration and architecture which developed in the 1880s and 1890s. The name derives from the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, an interior design gallery opened in Paris in 1896, but in fact the movement originally had different names throughout Europe.

Art Nouveau flourished in Britain with the assistence of the progressively thinking Arts and Crafts movement, where it was simply known as 'Modern Style'.

Art Noveau can be seen most effectively in the decorative arts, for example interior design, glasswork and jewellery. However, it was also seen in posters and illustration as well as certain paintings and sculptures of the period.

If one establishment in France distinguishes the style of Art Noveau it is probably the Moulin Rouge - a notorious night club in Paris frequented by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Moulin Rouge provided him with a distraction to his disabilities - he broke both his legs as a child and both remained deformed. He stood 4 and a half feet tall.

But each night he would sketch the goings on at the club and the next day would paint them. Needless to say, whenever the club wanted a new poster, they turned to him to create them.

Art Deco overlaps with Art Noveau but takes its name from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris, which celebrated living in the modern world.

It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication in architecture and applied arts which range from luxurious objects made from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available to a growing middle class.

One artist whose work crossed both boudaries was that of Reneé Lalique, whose early commission included producing objects d'art for the sameMaison de l'Art Nouveau that gave art noveau its name.

Lalique was originally a jeweller whose work held International respect. However, at the age of 50 he threw in what he was doing to make glass - some of which now sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece.