I continue exploring some more hidden corners of Montmartre. (If you are interested, I have made a number of Montmartre posts on this blog as well as on my old one.)
Very close to the “Moulin Rouge” (see previous posts), we already visited “Cité Véron” (see previous posts) and a few steps further there is a very discrete gate (104, boulevard Montmartre) which leads to a number of inner court yards, obviously not yet transformed into more fashionable living and working space. I learnt that a then famous painter, Fernand Cormon, although more traditional in his art, had an art school here in the 1880’s and had students like Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh - simultaneously. Toulouse-Lautrec of course spent most of his days in the immediate surroundings, working and living just round the corner, whereas Vincent spent a short period 1886-88 in Paris, sharing the flat of his brother Theo who lived close to here, just before he moved to Arles (see previous posts). On the photo from the studio, I can spot Toulouse-Lautrec on the front left, but cannot recognise van Gogh.
I tried to ask around, but didn’t get any answer about where exactly the “Atelier Carmon” was situated.
I found however the stage door to the immediate neighbour chansonnier cabaret “Les Deux Anes”. 
A fellow blogger (Paris-bise-art) gave me the idea to have a glass of brouilly at the “Lux Bar”, very close – 12 rue Lépic. This bar is situated just in front of the today more famous “Café des Deux Moulins”, the one where Amélie Poulain worked. The “Lux Bar” has kept most of its original decoration from 1910 (see also top picture). There were no tourists at the bar, the atmosphere was very friendly and the glass of brouilly was excellent and the price very reasonable. On the beautiful ceramic wall you could read the price of the coffee – 0,10 francs. I forgot to ask what today’s price is.
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