Lautrec's famous image of his long-time friend Aristide Bruant, depicting the cabaret performer wearing his trademark hat and red scarf, revolutionized the art of the poster. The large, flat expanses of colour and emphatic outlines are inspired by Japanese coloured woodcuts, to which Vincent van Gogh introduced Lautrec seven years earlier. The artist's monogram, H.T.L., also owes its origin to Japanese prints: of aristocratic lineage, Lautrec was forbidden by his father to sign the family name on his art. The poster medium provided Lautrec with a freedom to create bold images unacceptable in painting of the time. He benefited from the recent ending of a law that had made large unprinted spaces illegal on all but official government posters. The words "Aristide Bruant dans un cabaret" were eventually added to the bottom of the performer's coat. This version is the first state of the lithograph, issued in a limited edition for collectors.