Rating and value of works, posters, paintings by Jules Chéret

A pioneer of poster art, painter, lithographer and decorator, Jules Chéret (1836-1932) played a decisive role in the advent of commercial and cultural advertising. Nicknamed "the king of posters" by his contemporaries, Jules Chéret expressed himself through popular art, making the poster a veritable artistic revelation.

If you own a work by or based on the artist Jules Chéret and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can help you.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value.

Then, if you want to sell your work, we'll point you in the right direction to get the best possible price for it.

Our expert, Laurence Dantec, appraises your posters in collaboration with Auctie's and adds value to them when they come up for sale.

Artist's rating and value

Highly prized by collectors the world over, Jules Chéret's posters are highly prized at auction.

The price at which they are sold at auction ranges from €20 to €145,000, a substantial delta but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to works by Jules Chéret.

A work signed by him can fetch several hundred thousand euros, as shown by his gouache on paper La Danse, sold for €145,000 at Bailly Pommery-Voutier in 2005. 

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Jules Chéret's style and technique

The style and technique of Jules Chéret, often referred to as the "father of the modern poster", represented a revolution in the art of visual communication at the end of the 19th century.

In a landscape still dominated by engraved, monochrome imagery, how does he manage to impose an aesthetic where color and movement merge to captivate the eye?

Chéret, a master of color lithography, exploited the possibilities offered by this process to combine bold colors and fluid lines.

Her compositions, in which the female figure often takes center stage, are organized around curved, dynamic lines, giving her posters an almost theatrical vitality.

Like the Impressionists, he adopted a vivid palette, playing on luminous contrasts to give his works an impression of lightness and effervescence.

However, where the latter sought to capture the fleeting variations of light, Chéret focused on the immediate brilliance, the instant charm that draws the eye to crowded streets.

His figures, often dancing or in action, seem to defy the fixity of the printed page, conveying a joyful, festive modernity, typical of the spirit of the Belle Époque.

As one contemporary critic put it, Chéret succeeded in "elevating the poster to an art form while retaining its popular essence", a rare synthesis in which virtuoso technique fades into the background in favor of visual emotion.

The life of Jules Chéret

The life of Jules Chéret, born in Paris in 1836, is part of a trajectory where art and craft meet to redefine the contours of graphic creation. From a modest background, he discovered the world of lithography at an early age, learning to master a technique still in search of recognition.

In 1859, a stay in London marked a decisive turning point: there he studied English innovations in color printing, absorbing the influence of English chromolithography, which favored vividness and clarity.

"Everything had to be reinvented", he would later say of his return to Paris, where he set about freeing the poster from its purely informative role.

By the 1860s, Chéret had established himself as a pioneer of the modern poster, combining technical virtuosity with visual daring. His compositions are distinguished by a quest for lightness, a vibrant palette and a fluid line that lends his female figures, often called "Chérettes", a jubilant grace.

His marriage of the aesthetic and the functional revolutionized the perception of graphic art, to the point where he is sometimes referred to as the "father of the artistic poster". By the end of the 19th century, his success was such that he became a key figure of the Belle Époque, his influence extending far beyond the realm of advertising.

Jules Chéret's legacy in his century

Jules Chéret's legacy lies at the heart of the Belle Époque, redefining the status of the poster as a work of art in its own right. By transforming a utilitarian medium into a veritable graphic scene, he paved the way for generations of artists who found in his compositions a model of elegance and innovation.

His style, which combines spontaneity of line and brilliance of color, helped democratize art by making it accessible on city walls.

His "Chérettes", embodying joie de vivre and triumphant femininity, left a lasting impression on the collective imagination, making the poster a mirror of modern aspirations.

Chéret didn't just inspire; through his prolific output and his role as an intermediary, he established a visual language that would influence currents such as Art Nouveau.

Figures like Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha or Bonnard find in his approach a starting point, echoing in their own way this exaltation of movement and light.

By popularizing lithographic art and elevating the poster to the status of an artistic medium, he left a deep mark on the history of the decorative arts, testifying to a modernity that continues to resonate long after his century.

Focus on Les folies bergères, Jules Chéret

In his poster for the Folies-Bergère, Jules Chéret deploys a visual brilliance that synthesizes the very essence of his art: an effervescent celebration of spectacle and modernity.

Dominated by a radiant female figure - emblematic of his famous "Chérettes" - the poster immediately catches the eye with its spiral composition, guiding the eye into a whirlwind of energy and light.

The woman, wearing a light, brightly-toned dress, seems suspended in a moment of pure exuberance, evoking both freedom and sensuality.

This choice of representation is not insignificant: Chéret elevates the female figure to an icon of urban joy, reflecting a society in the throes of change, where entertainment is becoming a cornerstone of popular culture.

Technically, Chéret mastered the art of polychrome lithography with rare virtuosity. Unlike contemporary posters, which are often limited to a restricted range of colors, he introduces vibrant hues and subtle gradations, giving the work an almost painterly luminosity.

Flat tints of color mingle with the fluid lines of the drawing, creating a visual texture that evokes both the spontaneity of a sketch and the richness of a finished painting. Here, the light seems to emanate from the composition itself, amplified by the use of a light background that contrasts with the bright hues of the central figure. This technique, revolutionary for its time, gives the poster an immersive quality that goes beyond its primary function of communication.

This visual dynamism is echoed in the aesthetics of later poster artists, notably Alphonse Mucha and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, but is distinguished by its uninhibited celebration of gaiety.

Where Mucha would introduce more stylized, structured motifs, and Lautrec would focus on intimate scenes imbued with a certain melancholy, Chéret favors a universal, direct, almost jubilant language. His art does not seek to analyze or deconstruct, but to amplify life in all its spontaneity. 

The Les folies bergère poster also illustrates Chéret's ability to embody the spirit of the Belle Époque. By magnifying Paris's entertainment venues, he helped establish the city as a cultural epicenter of its time.

The female figure, omnipresent in his work, is more than mere ornamentation: it becomes the symbol of a modernity imbued with lightness, of a society looking to the future but deeply rooted in the pleasure of the moment.

This central role of women in his iconography could be compared to that they occupy in the works of Auguste Renoir, where they also embody an idealized vision of life.

With Chéret, however, this femininity unfolds in a specifically urban and dynamic context, in tune with the electric energy of Parisian life. 

Ultimately, Les folies bergère goes beyond the advertising poster to become a celebration of festivity, color and modernity.

Combining technical virtuosity with emotional impact, Jules Chéret's work remains a major milestone in graphic art, embodying the carefree vitality of an era.

His signature

Not all Jules Chéret's works are signed.

Although there are variations, here is a first example of its signature:

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