Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

In France they Post-Impressionism painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was the archetypal bohemian artist. He has also been outstanding at drawing, illustration and printmaking. A crippled aristocrat, he lingered round the cafes and brothels of Paris producing probably the most memorable images of Montmartre nightlife. Lautrec’s paintings have a vivid collection of prostitutes, beggars, impresarios, aristocrats and drunks, whom he portrayed without criticism or disapproval. He also produced some 30 top quality advertising posters, which contributed significantly to the Belle Epoque poster craze. His works have started to symbolize both gaiety and seediness of fin de siecle Paris. Influenced by Manet and Degas, the great figurative painters of French Impressionism, Lautrec’s key works include Woman Doing her Hair, 1891 (Musee d’Orsay) and Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge, 1892 (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC).


Born in Albi, France, Lautrec was the son and heir of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse, and also the last in line of a family group history that spanned more than a thousand years. Traditionally the aristocracy tended to inbreed and Lautrec’s own parents were first cousins. Possibly as a result of this tradition, Lautrec suffered a number of congenital health issues. At 13 he fractured his left thighbone, which never healed properly and the legs ceased to develop any further (his height as a possible adult was 4 foot 9 inches). A sick and quiet boy, he immersed himself in art. As an adult, without the benefit of just about any normal life as a result of his deformity, alcohol and fine art painting became his life.

Lautrec was attracted to Monmartre, an area of Paris famous because of its brothels, nightlife, artists, writers and philosophers. He became such a familiar face in the brothels that he often moved set for weeks at a time. He'd get to be the confidant and friend of the Madame and her prostitutes, painting techniques and sketching them at leisure. Among his favorite models, a red haired prostitute that he called Rosa La Rouge posed for him regularly. It is alleged he contracted syphilis though her.
Although his subjects are occasionally near to caricature, they are shown without sentiment or criticism. Among his most famous paintings out of this time are depictions with the singer Yvette Guilbert as well as the dancer Louise Weber, commonly known as in the La Goulue (the Glutton), who invented the ‘Can-Can’. His paintings of the dancer Jane Avril are also well known.


A number of his perhaps most obviously works include: The Dance at Moulin Rouge, 1889 (Philadelphia Museum of Art); La Goulue arrives at the Moulin Rouge, 1892 (Museum of contemporary Art, Ny); Jane Avril, 1893 (Poster); The Model Resting, 1889 and Au Cirque: Entrée en Piste, 1899 (both at the J. Paul Getty Museum, LA); Portrait of Suzanne Valadon, 1885 (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires) and Divan Japonaise (The Mint Museums, New york).
Lautrec painted his subjects quickly, using oil paint thinned by turpentine, which allowed for rapid fine marks. He often painted on unprimed cardboard, allowing for the outer lining to seem, exploiting its rawness and painting colors. The economy of his colour and materials are as direct and basic as his subjects. However often spend his nights drinking heavily within the bars, sketching those around him and apply those sketches to canvas the following day.

An alcoholic the majority of his adult like, he died from complications induced by alcohol and syphilis, as of this family estate, three short months before his 37th birthday.

Although his artistic career only lasted only 20 years, he managed to produce over 700 canvasses, 350 posters and 5,000 drawings. Copies of his posters continue being popular today, as they were a hundred years ago. For more information concerning Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s place in graphic art, see: Good reputation for Poster Art.

And also other famous painters, like Paul Cezanne, the Dutch expressionist Vincent Van Gogh as well as the colourist Paul Gauguin, he was just about the most innovative painters from the Post-Impressionist period. His skill lay in capturing people inside their work environment. It has an immediacy and tension in his work, captured through his fast brushstroke and gaudy usage of colour. His works were highly linear, and give emphasis to outlines and contours - he was able to recognizably depict a lot of his well-known singer subjects by their silhouette alone.
After his death, his mother and art dealer promoted his work, and contributed towards funds for a museum to become built in his hometown. Although, as was the fate of so many bohemian artists, his works failed to sell well in his own time, he's now rightly considered among the great masters of genre painting and printmaking inside the good reputation for art of the late 19th century. His works typically sell for prices in excess of $15-20 million. They hang inside the collections of the best art museums around the globe, and search in most poster art catalogues.