Messalina between Two Female Figures

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.