Pigalle: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro lines 2 and 12.
Why this name?
A station of lines 2 and 12, on the border of the 9th and 18th arrondissements, under place Pigalle. It takes its name from the square and the district, which recall rue Jean-Baptiste-Pigalle, where the sculptor lived from 1714 to 1785. The main entrance, on promenade Coccinelle, only gives access to the line 2 platforms; it is decorated with an edicule designed in 1900 by Hector Guimard and listed as a historic monument. Originally, the Nord-Sud line A station replaced Notre-Dame-de-Lorette as the temporary terminus.
Anecdote
The line 12 platforms, in a sharp curve under the square, cross the line 2 tunnel at right angles and pass under a sewer collector. A service connection before Blanche gives access to the station Gare du Nord USFRT, where metro drivers are trained. For the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the RATP replaced half of the line 2 plates with « Pigoalball », a portmanteau word linked to goalball.
Audio guide
Pigalle, muse of painters
Located between Montmartre and New Athens, the district has attracted generations of painters including one of the best known, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He spends every night there and enjoys the lively nightlife of the neighborhood. The name of the district and square comes from the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle.
Lautrec first settled in Montmartre, at 7 rue Tourlaque, near rue Caulaincourt, where he painted his first works. He frequented the garden of the photographer Père Forest, at 1 rue Caulaincourt, where he made a dozen portraits of women in the open air. Place Pigalle, at the café du Rat Mort, he depicts casseroles with their lovers in the private lounges; rue des Moulins, the La Fleur Blanche brothel is one of his familiar places.
He painted the Moulin-Rouge, the Moulin de la Galette and the Japanese Divan, showing their regulars. The Moulin-Rouge, founded in 1889, is known for its French Cancan and has contributed a lot to the reputation of the district.
Pigalle has kept its sulphurous image, between bright signs and sex shops, but it has also become a trendy district, with concert halls, restaurants and shops.
Around Pigalle
- Moulin Rouge, 450 m away — A cabaret opened on 6 October 1889 on boulevard de Clichy by Joseph Oller and Charles Zidler, topped by a red windmill. It is presented as the birthplace of the modern French cancan, of which La Goulue was one of the dancers.
- Musée de la Vie romantique, 300 m away — A museum in painter Ary Scheffer's house-studio, devoted to Romanticism and George Sand.
- Rue des Martyrs, 350 m away — A shopping street known for its artisan food shops and lively neighbourhood feel.