Lapin Agile
Coordinates: 48°53′19″N 2°20′24″E / 48.8886°N 2.33998°E Lapin Agile is a famous Montmartre cabaret, at 22 Rue des Saules, 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.
It existed circa 1860 under the name of "Au rendez-vous des voleurs",. Some twenty years later the walls were decorated with portraits of famous murderers and the place became known as the "Cabaret des Assassins". Tradition relates that the cabaret received this name because a band of gangsters broke in and killed the owner's son in a robbery attempt. In 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted the sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling their neighbourhood night-club "Le Lapin à Gill," meaning "Gill's rabbit." Over time, the name had evolved into "Cabaret Au Lapin Agile," or the Nimble Rabbit Cabaret. The original painting on canvas was stolen in 1893; a reproduction on timber was painted to take its place.
The Lapin Agile was bought in the early twentieth century by the cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner Aristide Bruant to save it from demolition. The Lapin Agile became a favourite spot for struggling artists and writers, including Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, and Utrillo.
The Lapin Agile is located in the centre of the Montmartre district in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, behind and slightly northwest of Sacre Coeur Basilica. Since this was the heart of artistic Paris at the turn of the twentieth century, there was much discussion at the cabaret about "the meaning of art."
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