Jean-Louis Forain (23 October 1852 - 11 July 1931) was a French Impressionist* painter, lithographer, watercolorist and etcher.

Forain was born in Reims, Marne but at age eight, his family moved to Paris. He began his career working as a caricaturist for several Paris journals including Le Monde Parisien and Le rire satirique. Wanting to expand his horizons, he enrolled at the École des Beaux Arts*, studying under Jean-Léon Gérôme as well as another sculptor/painter, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Forain's quick and often biting wit allowed him to befriend poets Arthur Rimbaud and Verlaine as well as many writers, most notably Joris-Karl Huysmans. He was the youngest artist to frequent and participate in the feverish d...