TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, Henri de

The sick Lautrec spent the winter of ¹⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₉₀₁ in Bordeaux, where he visited the Grand Th�âtre and painted scenes from Isidore de Lara’s opera “Messaline” and Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “La Belle H�l�ne.” We know from a letter to his Parisian friend Joyant, however, that he was not enamoured of the actress playing the beautiful H�l�ne: “H�l�ne is played by a fat sow called Cocyte.”

Chilp�ric was a Merovingian operetta by Florimond Herv� in which Marcelle Lender (1863-1927) played the lead. Lautrec was so fascinated by her decollet�, her back, and her costume that he saw the performance several times. He made six lithographs of Lender and the present painting which was preceded by protracted studies. In the painting Lautrec presents the scene against which the dancer’s movements can be best observed. He uses beams of light shining up from below, which give a mask-like and yet highly individualised and characteristic appearance to the faces.

Marcelle Lender was a variety artist who first appeared at the Theatre Montmartre at the age of 16. Her greatest success was in the operetta Chilp�ric in which she both sang and danced.

This painting was made after Lautrec spent some time in a sanatorium to cure a complete mental breakdown and alcohol poisoning. He subsequently recuperated in the provinces, where he recovered rapidly and even abstained for a while. But as soon as he returned to Paris and met his old drinking companions, he began to drink once more.

The woman represented in the painting is Lucy Jourdan, a well-known figure in the demi-monde, taking an intimate supper with a companion in the fashionable Rat Mort restaurant, Rue Pigalle. It is said that the painting was commissioned by her lover, who is perhaps the person next to her.

Yvette Guilbert (1867-1944) was a celebrated singer and raconteuse. Before making her career she was a model and sales assistant at the Printemps department store. In 1889 she appeared at the Eldorado for the first time, and in 1890, at the Moulin Rouge. In 1895 she went on tour to America, and she returned to Paris even more famous than before. Long black gloves were her trademark. Lautrec drew her wearing her gloves, and he dedicated two lithograph albums to her.

Around 1880 Montmartre became the centre for the lesbians of Paris. No one protested when two women waltzed together, as in Lautrec’s painting. Lesbians are depicted also in A Corner of the Moulin de la Galette.

The painting shows Lautrec’s friend Viaud, who really was an admiral, and who allowed him to spend some time on his yacht in 1899, at Countess Ad�le’s request. Lautrec had just been released from hospital (an asylum) in Neuilly and his mother hoped that this ruse would prevent her son from succumbing to alcohol again.

All his life Lautrec was interested most of all in portraits. One of his very first works was a portrait of his father on horseback, and one of his last a significant portrait of his friend Paul Viaud as admiral.

Of all his contemporaries, Degas undoubtedly has the greatest influence on Lautrec; both were interested in the same motifs, and subject to the same influences. There could be a trace of rivalry in Lautrec’s picture After the Meal, which recalls Degas’s Absinthe. In Degas’s picture the compositional element - clearly showing Japanese influence - is more important than the content. Lautrec, by contrast, is not content to show a couple sitting at a tavern table, rather he reveals to us their characters and the situation in which they find themselves.

The man is Lautrec’s friend Maurice Guibert, and the woman is probably modelled on Suzanne Valadon. Guibert was an amateur painter and worked as a representative for the champagne company Moët et Chandon.

Alfred la Guigne was the title of a story in a book by Oscar M�tenier that had appeared in 1891. However, in this scene, which is probably set in the Moulin de la Galette, Lautrec has actually portrayed his friend Gaston Bonnefoy and only later did he offer it as an illustration for M�tenier’s book.

Aristide Bruant (1851-1925) came from Sens to Paris, where he at first worked as an office boy for a lawyer. Then he was an employee of the railway and finally he worked as a conf�rencier in the cabarets. From the opening of his own venue, the Mirliton in 1885, he performed as a singer of realistic chansons, occasionally coloured by anarchism and sometimes punctuated with vulgar jokes.

Bruant also published the magazine Le Mirliton, in which he printed illustrations and paintings by Lautrec. When he starred at the Ambassadeurs in 1892, he compelled the director to cover the whole venue with the poster designed by Lautrec, and to display it all over Paris. By so doing Bruant contributed considerably to Lautrec’s fame, and his own.

The Ambassadeurs was a famous caf� on the Camps-Elys�es next door to the equally famous Hotel Crillon, mostly frequented by diplomats and other important persons.

This is a study for the famous poster. Aristide Bruant (1851-1925) was a singer of realistic chansons, occasionally coloured by anarchism and sometimes punctuated with vulgar jokes. Lautrec painted a very romantic and imposing picture of him, with his cape thrown over his shoulders and his famous red scarf around his neck, very much in the style of the Japanese woodcut.

This painting is Lautrec’s last work. It was executed between the beginning of May and the end of July 1901, only a few months before his death. It shows his cousin Gabriel Tapi� de C�leyran taking his viva voce for his degree in medicine, although Tapi� had in fact already qualified in 1899.

The candidate is sitting on the far left, red-faced in front of his professors, like a delinquent before a tribunal. The dark, barely illuminated scene seems out of keeping with Lautrec, and is more reminiscent of Dutch portraits in the seventeenth-century Baroque style.

Early in 1899 Lautrec collapsed on the street and broke his collar-bone, blind drunk yet again. He was taken to the hospital for psychiatric and nervous disorders in Neuilly, and his strength was restored by detoxication treatment. Receiving commissions for a series of circus illustrations, Lautrec produced in his asylum room a series of astonishing works, executed with the utmost precision. He used only coloured pencils and crayons.

The Moulin Rouge dance hall was opened on 5 October 1889, and was the meeting place of Paris society, artists and demi-monde. The red windmill at the entrance was a mock-up; its back consisted of various booths and a wooden elephant that could be turned into a stage. The venue was lit up as bright as day and decorated with mirrors, galleries and gaslights. In the middle was a large dance floor surrounded by a promenade, tables, and a garden.

Between 1890 and 1896 the Moulin Rouge inspired Lautrec to no less than thirty paintings, which give us a better picture of the famous dance hall, its atmosphere and its clientele, than any photo-reportage could have achieved.

The Moulin Rouge dance hall was opened on 5 October 1889, and was the meeting place of Paris society, artists and demi-monde. The red windmill at the entrance was a mock-up; its back consisted of various booths and a wooden elephant that could be turned into a stage. The venue was lit up as bright as day and decorated with mirrors, galleries and gaslights. In the middle was a large dance floor surrounded by a promenade, tables, and a garden.

Between 1890 and 1896 the Moulin Rouge inspired Lautrec to no less than thirty paintings, which give us a better picture of the famous dance hall, its atmosphere and its clientele, than any photo-reportage could have achieved.

The Moulin Rouge dance hall was opened on 5 October 1889, and was the meeting place of Paris society, artists and demi-monde. The red windmill at the entrance was a mock-up; its back consisted of various booths and a wooden elephant that could be turned into a stage. The venue was lit up as bright as day and decorated with mirrors, galleries and gaslights. In the middle was a large dance floor surrounded by a promenade, tables, and a garden.

Between 1890 and 1896 the Moulin Rouge inspired Lautrec to no less than thirty paintings, which give us a better picture of the famous dance hall, its atmosphere and its clientele, than any photo-reportage could have achieved.

The person shown to the right of La Goulue is not her sister but the dancer M�me Fromage, which roughly translates as “cheese girl.” She had been a dressmaker’s assistant and was a close friend of La Goulue, which is why people often referred to them as sisters.

The Moulin Rouge dance hall was opened on 5 October 1889, and was the meeting place of Paris society, artists and demi-monde. The red windmill at the entrance was a mock-up; its back consisted of various booths and a wooden elephant that could be turned into a stage. The venue was lit up as bright as day and decorated with mirrors, galleries and gaslights. In the middle was a large dance floor surrounded by a promenade, tables, and a garden.

Between 1890 and 1896 the Moulin Rouge inspired Lautrec to no less than thirty paintings, which give us a better picture of the famous dance hall, its atmosphere and its clientele, than any photo-reportage could have achieved.

Both the lithograph and the painting of this subject show the nude dancer and artist Cha-U-Kao (middle) dancing with a girlfriend, with Jane Avril to their right.

Around 1880 Montmartre became the centre for the lesbians of Paris. No one protested when two women waltzed together, as in Lautrec’s painting.

Both the lithograph and the painting of this subject show the nude dancer and artist Cha-U-Kao (middle) dancing with a girlfriend, with Jane Avril to their right.

Around 1880 Montmartre became the centre for the lesbians of Paris. No one protested when two women waltzed together, as in Lautrec’s painting.

The Moulin Rouge dance hall was opened on 5 October 1889, and was the meeting place of Paris society, artists and demi-monde. The red windmill at the entrance was a mock-up; its back consisted of various booths and a wooden elephant that could be turned into a stage. The venue was lit up as bright as day and decorated with mirrors, galleries and gaslights. In the middle was a large dance floor surrounded by a promenade, tables, and a garden.

Lautrec had a table reserved for him from the very first day, and his sketches and paintings constituted the house chronicle. They made a significant contribution to the fame of the Moulin Rouge and were exhibited from time to time in a small gallery in the foyer.

Lautrec often visited the Moulin de la Galette and painted a number of pictures there. The venue was popular both with the poorer sections of Montmartre and with the artists and bohemians. Markedly erotic and therefore offensive to respectable society were the evening dances, which brought out the police - visible in the right-hand background of the picture. In the right foreground is the picture’s original owner, the landscape painter and friend of Lautrec, Joseph Albert (c. 1865-1928).

The Fernando Circus had its pitch on the Boulevard Rochechouart. In 1894 it was redesigned as a theatre. Included among its regular guests were Lautrec, and also Degas, Renoir and Seurat, who decorated the rooms with their paintings.

This painting is the first undisputed masterpiece by Lautrec. It is innovatory in its choice of colours as in its organisation of space, with a diagonal line dividing the scene into two halves. As a composition it is equally remote from the Academy and from the Impressionists.

Lautrec’s painting was exhibited in the foyer of the Moulin Rouge from October 1889, therefore it is likely that it inspired Seurat famous last painting, The Circus which also features a bareback rider from the Fernando.

The daily life in the brothels gave Lautrec a rich choice of motifs during the years 1892 to 1895.

Cadieux, called “Homme canon,” performed as a comic singer at the Petit Casino as well as at the Eldorado and the Ambassadeurs. He was famous for his agility, which was in no way impeded by his round belly. He reached the height of his career around 1893 when this portrait of him was painted. In the same year Lautrec also designed a poster for him.

The more orthodox and darker oil-painting style, with smoother surface, which can be seen in the portrayal of Lautrec’s models at this time, can be attributed to the influence of Bonnat, Lautrec’s teacher. For instance, he painted a whole series of studies of the red-haired Carmen Gaudin, and an important picture entitled The Laundress.

Chocolat was a Negro from Bilbao who performed as a clown, usually with his partner, the Englishman George Footit. They went on a European tour together and had their greatest success in Paris in 1894. After his performances at the Nouveau Cirque he often danced and sang to please himself at the Irish and American Bar.

Lautrec’s father, Count Alphonse-Charles-Marie de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (1838-1913) is described as a crotchety eccentric, who was mainly interested in hunting, and who seemed to love horses, dogs, and falcons more than people. When he realised that his weakling son would never equal him in riding, hunting, or soldiering, he turned away in disappointment.

Throughout his life, Lautrec was very close to his caring mother, Countess Ad�le, who repeatedly provided financial support, and he painted her several times in her slightly melancholy tranquillity.

Throughout his life, Lautrec was very close to his caring mother, Countess Ad�le, who repeatedly provided financial support, and he painted her several times in her slightly melancholy tranquillity.

This portrait of Lautrec’s mother was executed in the Impressionist manner, under the influence of Monet and Pissarro, but it is apparent that Lautrec is no blind follower of Impressionism.

Lautrec’s mother, Countess Ad�le-Zoë-Marie-Marquette Tapi� de C�leyran (1841-1930), came from an old family from the Aude province. The two families, Toulouse-Lautrec and C�leyran, had been interrelated since the 18th century. Ad�le married her cousin, Count Alphonse-Charles-Marie de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. After the birth of their second child the couple separated and, after her divorce, Ad�le lived at Malrom� Château where the portrait was painted.

Lautrec designed the two paintings (Dancing at the Moulin Rouge: La Goulue and Valentin the Contortionist, and Moorish Dance) as decorative panels for La Goulue’s fairground booth. The first records her star performances with Valentin the Contortionist at the Moulin Rouge, the second announces her new fairground show. La Goulue later had to sell the two canvases to pay her debts. A greedy dealer then cut them into several pieces to get a better price. They were later bought back and, in 1929, put together and restored by the Louvre.

In 1894, he American painter and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany planned the production of glass windows based on designs created by French artists including Bonnard, Denis, Vallotton, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Just a year later the windows were presented at the Paris Salon on the Champ de Mars and at the opening of Bing’s gallery L’Art Nouveaux. Only a few are still in existence today, for example that based on the present design by Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Divan Japonais in the Rue des Martyrs was frequented by Lautrec and his cousin Gabriel Tapi� de C�leyran. The Divan Japonais introduced the first striptease act, and Lautrec painted a poster for it in 1892.

�mile Henri Bernard (1868-1941) was a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and at a later time, C�zanne.

The sitter of this painting was a prostitute.

Gabriel was Lautrec’s cousin and probably his closest friend.

Gabriel was Lautrec’s cousin and probably his closest friend. He studied medicine in Paris and passed his final examinations in 1899. After Lautrec’s death he campaigned for the street in which Henri was born in Albi to named after him. With Maurice Joyant he built up the Mus�e Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, to which he donated many of the pictures in his possession.

During his training in Cormon’s studio, Lautrec painted several portraits of his fellow students. Among them the portrait of the young painter Gustave Lucien Dennery (1863-1953) is one of the most original. This friend became more famous as Lautrec’s model than as a painter.

The sitter for this painting was Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), a French painter who, in 1894, became the first woman painter admitted to the Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She is also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. She modelled for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who gave her painting lessons), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pierre-C�cile Puvis de Chavannes.

This drawing is a study for a painting, now in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge.

This drawing represents a pensioner in the Maison de Sant� in Neuilly.

Towards the end of 1892 Lautrec was commissioned to produce decorations for the salon walls of the Rue d’Amboise brothel, and he decided to design 16 panels in the style of Louis XV, each one centring on an oval portraits of one of the girls. It was during this time that Lautrec had the opportunity to study their lifestyle at close quarters.

He was fascinated to discover that many of them were deeply in love with each other, and he frequently made these couples the subjects of his paintings. He thereby succeeded in portraying the genuine depth of these lesbian relationships without exposing the girls’ tenderness and helplessness to voyeurism.

Towards the end of 1892 Lautrec was commissioned to produce decorations for the salon walls of the Rue d’Amboise brothel, and he decided to design 16 panels in the style of Louis XV, each one centring on an oval portraits of one of the girls. It was during this time that Lautrec had the opportunity to study their lifestyle at close quarters.

He was fascinated to discover that many of them were deeply in love with each other, and he frequently made these couples the subjects of his paintings. He thereby succeeded in portraying the genuine depth of these lesbian relationships without exposing the girls’ tenderness and helplessness to voyeurism.

Lautrec has taken up the subject of Degas’s Absinthe and used it to express the hopeless loneliness and alienation of the two people portrayed. In both paintings a couple sit in front of a wall mirror, behind a table, and the bottle and glasses stand as a barrier between viewer and figures. Lautrec, however, directs the viewer’s attention to the painful differences between the well-fed bourgeois and the pale, undernourished employee, who is pointedly turning away from her neighbour.

Mireille was one of the girls in the brothel in the Rue d’Amboise. Lautrec was particularly fond of her. She can be seen in the large painting In the Salon of the Rue des Moulins, sitting in half-profile in the foreground, with her right hand round her drawn-up leg. The girls in the salon await their customers under the strict gaze of Madame.

The title of the picture is not correct as the brothel shown here is not the one in the Rue des Moulins but the one in the Rue d’Amboise, in which Mireille worked for a time. The artist only frequented the Rue des Moulins after Mireille left for Argentine.

Between 1892 and 1895, Lautrec produced innumerable studies, about fifty paintings and over one hundred drawings from the brothels. The greatest achievement of these works was the present famous painting. It is one of the few compositions for which he relied on his memory and imagination, supported by jottings and sketches. He worked on it for months in his studio.

Between 1892 and 1895, Lautrec produced innumerable studies, about fifty paintings and over one hundred drawings from the brothels. The present picture is one of the studies for his famous painting of the same subject.

This painting is a study for the left background section of In the Salon of the Rue des Moulins. The picture is dominated by the imperious pose of Rolande, one of the models Lautrec painted many times during his stays in the brothel, which often lasted weeks at a time. The final painting differs from this study in its harmonisation of colour as well as in its more relaxed composition.

The appliqu� snake on the singer’s dress not only reflects Lautrec’s study of the vocabulary of Art Nouveau, but also adorns the singer’s silhouette with a clarity that highlights her bodily grace.

Jane Avril was always similarly attired for her sensational performances. She wore a full-skirted dress of white muslin that was gathered in a narrow embroidered collar at the neck, and had wide sleeves. With this she wore a kind of beret on which a few feathers swayed. Trademark of her choreography was a particular pose in which her left leg was raised high and swiveled wildly back and forth.

This work is a study for the poster “Jardin du Paris: Jane Avril.”

Jane Avril (1868-1943) was a dancer, singer and actress. Her father was an Italian nobleman, while her mother was from the demi-monde and died mentally deranged. At first she worked as a cashier at the Hippodrome, then as a horserider. Finally she was allowed to perform the quadrille with La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge. The dance made her so well-known that she was able to perform in the best venues of Paris from then on. Her greatest triumphs came in the years 1890-94 at the Jardin de Paris. and at the Folies Berg�re. She still had great successes after 1900 in the French provinces and on tour in America. She spent the last ten years of her life penniless in an almshouse.

Jane Avril was friendly with many artists and had a particularly close friendship with Lautrec, whose pictures she greatly admired. He gave her many of his works, all of which, however, she gave to her lovers over the years.

Jane Avril (1868-1943) was a dancer, singer and actress. Her father was an Italian nobleman, while her mother was from the demi-monde and died mentally deranged. At first she worked as a cashier at the Hippodrome, then as a horserider. Finally she was allowed to perform the quadrille with La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge. The dance made her so well-known that she was able to perform in the best venues of Paris from then on. Her greatest triumphs came in the years 1890-94 at the Jardin de Paris. and at the Folies Berg�re. She still had great successes after 1900 in the French provinces and on tour in America. She spent the last ten years of her life penniless in an almshouse.

Jane Avril was friendly with many artists and had a particularly close friendship with Lautrec, whose pictures she greatly admired. He gave her many of his works, all of which, however, she gave to her lovers over the years.

Justine Dieuhl is sitting in a garden or small park-like area below Montmartre’s cemetery. The owner of this half-wild, half-cultivated garden was P�re Forest, an enthusiastic archer. The garden was open to the public, thus Lautrec, whose studio was nearby, often came here to paint in the open air.

The influence of van Gogh on Lautrec’s developing style as a painter is evident in numerous pictures, above all in the present portrait. Characteristic of Lautrec’s manner of painting at this time are the long, broad brush strokes with paint scarcely thinned at all.

La Goulue, actually called Louise Weber (1870-1929), was the most successful can-can dancer of her time. She appeared at the Moulin de la Galette, the Alcazar, the Elys�e-Montmartre, the Jardin de Paris, and later especially at the Moulin Rouge, frequently with Valentin the Contortionist, her partner in the quadrille. She was given her nickname as a result of her uncontrolled appetite (goulue = greedy).

La Goulue was from Alsace and worked as a washerwoman until she was discovered. When she became too fat and the Moulin Rouge withdrew the quadrille, she opened her own show booth, which Lautrec decorated in 1895. After that she worked as a flower-seller, in 1896 even as a wrestler at the Neuilly fair, and as an animal tamer. Later she lived with a man who exhibited her as a fairground curiosity in 1925. She deteriorated even more, survived for a time as a maid in a brothel, and died lonely and impoverished.

Valentin the Contortionist (1843-1907, real name: Etienne Renaudin) was an enthusiastic dancer, who performed at the Tivoli Vauxhall for his own pleasure, and also worked as master of Ballet at the Valentino, Mabille, and Elys�e-Montmartre. He also danced with La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge, where he enjoyed great success. He appeared alongside La Goulue on the 1891 Moulin Rouge poster, which was posted all over Paris. Through Lautrec his tall, haggard figure in top hat became world famous.

Lautrec lodged with the Greniers for two years. Ren� Grenier was a follow-student of Cormon, a few years older than Lautrec. His wife Lily was a shapely young woman, very much to the taste of her time, as she is well aware. With her flaming red hair, sharp little fang-like teeth, milk-white complexion and tiny freckles, she was very attractive, and she gathered a host of admirers round her.

Although she may not have sat for him, Lautrec painted three portraits of her, the present portrait shows her in a Japanese kimono.

“Woman at her Toilet” was a popular theme in 18th- and 19th-century French art, and Lautrec turned to it several times over a period of more than ten years. Unlike his predecessors, however, who usually concentrated on the charms of the women prettify themselves, Lautrec used the subject to express melancholy and loneliness.

Marcelle Lender was a variety artist who first appeared at the Theatre Montmartre at the age of 16. Her greatest success was in the operetta Chilp�ric in which she both sang and danced.

Marie Dihau, the sister of D�sir� Dihau, bassoonist at the Opera, was a successful singer at the Paris Opera in the 1870s. Later she gave piano and singing lessons.

Marie Dihau gave all the paintings that Lautrec painted of her and other members of her family to the city of Albi in exchange for a life pension.

Marcelle Lender (1863-1927) was a variety artist who first appeared at the Theatre Montmartre at the age of 16. Her greatest success was in the operetta Chilp�ric in which she both sang and danced.

Shortly before his death Lautrec painted his friend Joyant at a duck shoot, standing on his yacht in yellow oilskins and souwester, his gun at the ready. The background is only suggested, in some places the wood that Lautrec used as ground shows through - a technique that he developed to perfection. The figure of Joyant, by contrast, is painted with expressive brush strokes, entirely in yellows and russets. The painting was preceded by a number of sketches, and Joyant had to model for his friend no less than 65 times in all.

Maurice Joyant (1864-1930), writer and art dealer, was one of Lautrec’s most intimate friends, whom he had known since their schooldays together. It was Joyant who organised Lautrec’s first exhibition, and he endeavoured to gain recognition for him all his life. After Lautrec’s death, the painter’s father appointed Joyant as executor. He catalogued all of Lautrec’s work and, in 1926-27, wrote the first monograph about him. With Lautrec’s cousin, Gabriel Tapi� de C�leyran, he built up the Mus�e Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, which opened in 1922.

The English dancer and singer, May Milton, appeared in a ballet troupe in Paris, which she then left in order to take up an engagement in the Rue Fontaine. She was a close friend of Jane Avril’s without, however, attaining anywhere near the same kind of success - even though Lautrec designed this poster for her.

The sick Lautrec spent the winter of ¹⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₉₀₁ in Bordeaux, where he visited the Grand Th�âtre and painted scenes from Isidore de Lara’s opera “Messaline” and Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “La Belle H�l�ne.” In the last days of 1900 he painted six pictures in rapid succession.

The sick Lautrec spent the winter of ¹⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₉₀₁ in Bordeaux, where he visited the Grand Th�âtre and painted scenes from Isidore de Lara’s opera “Messaline” and Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “La Belle H�l�ne.” In the last days of 1900 he painted six pictures in rapid succession.

The sick Lautrec spent the winter of ¹⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₉₀₁ in Bordeaux, where he visited the Grand Th�âtre and painted scenes from Isidore de Lara’s opera “Messaline” and Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “La Belle H�l�ne.” In the last days of 1900 he painted six pictures in rapid succession. Messalina between Two Female Figures is particularly representative of these last works, in which colour takes precedence over all other consideration. The picture is given life by the harmony of reds, blues and yellows.

Lautrec’s paintings of men represent excellent dancers, old gentlemen or young pimps, and men waiting for their girls. The women flutter round them, and the silhouettes of these men, all occupying the foreground, take on a bas-relief quality. All of them are Lautrec’s friend.

Lautrec’s paintings of men represent excellent dancers, old gentlemen or young pimps, and men waiting for their girls. The women flutter round them, and the silhouettes of these men, all occupying the foreground, take on a bas-relief quality. All of them are Lautrec’s friend.

Lautrec was a good friend of the Dihau family, who came from Lille, and often visited them in their flat where he also sometimes met Degas. D�sir�, portrayed here, was a brother of Marie Dihau and was also portrayed by Degas in his Orchestra at the Opera.

This is a study of Henri Fourcade, a banker in Paris.

It is striking that Lautrec chose to portray the banker Henri Fourcade at a Paris ball of all places, where it is not immediately obvious what the subject’s position in public life was. For Lautrec, to paint the banker behind his desk would have meant to show only what was already known about the man: namely that he was a banker. By contrast, the man portrayed at the Opera ball, who is standing significantly forward from the other people in the picture, stimulates the attention, interest and imagination of the viewer.

The man with top hat in the background is Gabriel Tapi� de C�leyran, Lautrec’s cousin.

Louis Pascal was Lautrec’s second cousin, and had been a fellow pupil at the Lyc�e Fontane in Paris. Lautrec valued his company, as well as that of his mistress, Moute. Pascal later worked as an insurance broker. When he and his family got into financial difficulties in the summer of 1892 they were supported by the Lautrecs.

Louis Pascal was Lautrec’s second cousin, and had been a fellow pupil at the Lyc�e Fontane in Paris. Lautrec valued his company, as well as that of his mistress, Moute. Pascal later worked as an insurance broker. When he and his family got into financial difficulties in the summer of 1892 they were supported by the Lautrecs.

Maxime Dethomas (1868-1928), painter and graphic artist, was a friend of Lautrec’s and one of his favoured companions on brother-crawls. His painting was strongly influenced by Lautrec, with whom he travelled to Normandy and Holland. Dethomas was tall and chubby but, in spite of his stature, tended to be insecure.

The brothel-keepers are portrayed in paler shades, against contrasting red and green; they are thoroughly human types, drawn from the common people, portrayed with a freedom. There is something of a caricature in the picture, too, and in this respect the influence of Daumier is evident.

Lautrec designed the two paintings (Dancing at the Moulin Rouge: La Goulue and Valentin the Contortionist, and Moorish Dance) as decorative panels for La Goulue’s fairground booth. The first records her star performances with Valentin the Contortionist at the Moulin Rouge, the second announces her new fairground show. La Goulue later had to sell the two canvases to pay her debts. A greedy dealer then cut them into several pieces to get a better price. They were later bought back and, in 1929, put together and restored by the Louvre.

In the early 1890s Lautrec turned to original lithography which technique was eminently suited to his artistic personality. The technique allowed him to achieve simplicity of line, to use even colours without shading. He was to produce 360 lithographs, of which thirty were posters.

Lautrec became one of the most sought-after poster designers in Paris. He was so fashionable that his importance as a painter was almost forgotten. He developed a special painting technique which made his painting look similar to his lithographs and illustrations.

The Moulin Rouge became the place of bacchanal and revelry that its visitors, especially the foreigners, adored. The illuminated Moulin Rouge shone out over the boulevard like an enormous brothel lantern. The poster for the opening was painted by Jules Ch�ret, but for the 1891 season a poster was commissioned from Lautrec. The season saw the d�but of a young dancer, La Goulue (The Glutton), a pretty girl of twenty whose real name was Louise Weber (1870-1929). At first attempt Lautrec found the key to successful modern poster advertising: boldness and simplification. In a single night the large-scale poster was pasted up on walls and pillars throughout the whole of Paris.

In the early 1890s Lautrec turned to original lithography which technique was eminently suited to his artistic personality. The technique allowed him to achieve simplicity of line, to use even colours without shading. He was to produce 360 lithographs, of which thirty were posters.

Lautrec became one of the most sought-after poster designers in Paris. He was so fashionable that his importance as a painter was almost forgotten. He developed a special painting technique which made his painting look similar to his lithographs and illustrations.

The Moulin Rouge became the place of bacchanal and revelry that its visitors, especially the foreigners, adored. The illuminated Moulin Rouge shone out over the boulevard like an enormous brothel lantern. The poster for the opening was painted by Jules Ch�ret, but for the 1891 season a poster was commissioned from Lautrec. The season saw the d�but of a young dancer, La Goulue (The Glutton), a pretty girl of twenty whose real name was Louise Weber (1870-1929). At first attempt Lautrec found the key to successful modern poster advertising: boldness and simplification. In a single night the large-scale poster was pasted up on walls and pillars throughout the whole of Paris.

Feelings of sadness an disappointment emanate from this painting, which are to become a leitmotif of Lautrec’s work.

The Nude Study is an evidence of Lautrec’s determination to follow the advice of Bonnat, his master, who owed his allegiance to the academicists and favoured the simple brush stroke, quite in the manner of Ingres.

In this picture a prostitute stands naked in front of a mirror that reveals her image. She wears nothing more than the obligatory black stockings; she is on the point of dropping the shift that she has just taken off.

In 1885, Rudolphe Salis moved the Chat Noir, a cabaret in which Aristide Bruant himself appeared, to the Rue de Laval. Salis, his artists and customers turned the move into a jolly procession with music and costumes and, while Salis believed he had left nothing behind, he nevertheless forgotten a Louis XIII chair. Bruant, the new proprietor of the premises, refused to relinquish the chair. Instead he hung it on the ceiling and made it the butt of one of his famous satirical songs.

Lautrec has captured the movement of the performers, dancing couples and audience in numerous sketches. Lautrec has immortalised himself at the right-hand edge of the picture on the chair.

The model for this painting is Carmen Gaudin, who regularly modelled for Lautrec from 1885 to 1889. She is sitting in a garden or small park-like area below Montmartre’s cemetery. The owner of this half-wild, half-cultivated garden was P�re Forest, an enthusiastic archer. The garden was open to the public, thus Lautrec, whose studio was nearby, often came here to paint in the open air.

Reine de Joie was a novel by Victor Joze, pseudonym of the Polish writer Victor Dobrski, friend and neighbour of Lautrec in the Rue Fontaine. The poster, designed for bookshop displays, is composed of two parts joined in the middle. It also served as model for the book jacket designed by Pierre Bonnard. The inspiration for the motif probably came to Lautrec from a Japanese woodcut.

The antisemitically tinged novel and Lautrec’s poster provoked a scandal. The scene shows H�l�ne Roland, heroine of the novel, at a richly-laden table, kissing the stout Olizac. Baron Rothschild, who thought he recognised himself in the figure of Baron Rosenfeld, tried in vain to have the book banned.

This painting of a woman with her make-up was purchased by Theo van Gogh (1857-1891) for his private collection.

The sitter for this painting was probably Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), a French painter who, in 1894, became the first woman painter admitted to the Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She is also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. She modelled for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who gave her painting lessons), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pierre-C�cile Puvis de Chavannes.

The daily life in the brothels gave Lautrec a rich choice of motifs during the years 1892 to 1895. The Medical Inspection depicts the most intimate moment in the girls’ lives, namely the compulsory gynaecological check-up. This painting is naturalistic: for the girls the compulsory examination is part of their daily routine, and Lautrec reproduces the event with impartiality.

The features suggest that this is a portrait of the Marcelle Lender (1863-1927). Marcelle Lender was a variety artist who first appeared at the Theatre Montmartre at the age of 16. Her greatest success was in the operetta Chilp�ric in which she both sang and danced.

Toulouse-Lautrec rarely portrayed himself, and even when he did, tended to distance himself from the subject by means of irony and dissembling caricature.

Toulouse-Lautrec rarely portrayed himself, and even when he did, tended to distance himself from the subject by means of irony and dissembling caricature. Self-Portrait in front of a Mirror is his only self-portrait. Even here his face is obscured by shadow and hardly discernible.

His congenital condition and the accidents of 1878 and 1879 had severely impaired his growth. His upper body had been able to develop normally, while his legs remained thin and brittle. In his self-portrait the painter gives the viewer no hint of his stunted growth or of his features disfigured since puberty.

At the left end of the picture stands Lautrec’s father, Count Alphonse, overseeing the grooming of a race-horse. Behind his outstretched left hand one recognises the caricatured silhouette of the painter, in the company of his tutor.

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) was a French painter who, in 1894, became the first woman painter admitted to the Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She is also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. She modelled for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who gave her painting lessons), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pierre-C�cile Puvis de Chavannes.