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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - French Post-Impressionist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter in the late nineteenth century who observed and captured in his works, the Parisian nightlife of the period. His favorite scenes included circuses, nightclubs, brothels, and racetracks. Short in stature and having a propensity to drinking, Henri made the most of his short life and is most remembered for his Moulin Rouge themed paintings and posters. Our SegPlayPC collection has a broad selection of Toulouse-Lautrec's artwork including The Toilette, Justine Dieuhl, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, La Goulue Arriving at the Moulin Rouge, Two Women Waltzing, Yvette Guilbert, The Medical Inspection, and Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant.

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (November 24, 1864 – September 9, 1901) was a French post impressionist painter and printmaker who portrayed the bohemian character of late 19th century Paris. Although his career lasted for less than twenty years, Lautrec produced over 700 paintings, 363 prints and around 5,000 drawings.

Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, in the south of France. He was the heir to the Counts of Toulouse-Lautrec, one of the oldest aristocratic families in France who could trace their lineage back 1,000 years. Henri, who was their only living child, was weak and often sick. His father was a keen hunter and an eccentric with little affinity to his young son.

When Henri was 12 years old, he fell and broke his left thigh. At the age of 14, he fell again, breaking his right thigh. A congenital bone weakness meant that the fractures failed to heal properly. His legs stopped growing and when he reached adulthood he was only 4.5 feet tall. He never came to terms with his disability.

Since the young Henri was now disabled and unable to live a normal life, his mother encouraged him to paint. He was a talented and enthusiastic student, compensating for his physical disability by immersing himself totally in painting and drawing. In 1882, accompanied by his mother, Toulouse-Lautrec left the family estate and moved to Paris to study at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the studio of Fernand Cormon, where he met Vincent van Gogh. He was deeply influenced by the works of Degas and of Japanese artists, who used large areas of flat color and heavy delineation to portray form. Two years later, he left Cormon’s studio and went to live in Montmartre, an area of Paris known then for its nightlife, open air cafes, cabaret shows, circuses and brothels. By 1885, Lautrec had become part of a circle of bohemian artists who were out every night at parties and dance halls.

Toulouse-Lautrec sketched everywhere he went, faithfully capturing on paper what he saw – the colorful characters, the dancers and singers, comedians and circus performers. The next day in his studio he would produce paintings and lithographic prints from the drawings he had made. Unfortunately, he also drank everywhere he went. His work soon drew attention and in 1891 the owners of the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret asked Lautrec to produce a series of posters for them. The first poster showed the cabaret’s star dancer, La Goulue. It was so strikingly different from anything seen before that Toulouse-Lautrec was an instant success, hailed as Paris’s greatest poster artist. It was to be the start of a prolific career in poster design.

In the ten years that followed, Toulouse-Lautrec was enormously productive. He painted the people of Montmartre and had a talent for capturing character in a highly stylized fashion. He used thin brushstrokes which often barely covered the board underneath.

But by the mid 1890s, his alcohol abuse began to take its toll on Lautrec’s health and by the time he was 30 he had not only contracted syphilis, but his behavior became erratic and he suffered from delirium. His mother confined him to a sanatorium. Scared at the thought of being locked away for good, he drew a series of circus scenes, partly to convince the doctors that he was sane and could be released.

But Lautrec was unable to stop drinking for very long and eventually he had a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. His mother took him to the family estate where he died in 1891. He was 36 years old.

After his death, Lautrec’s mother asked an art dealer to promote her son’s paintings. She paid for the building of a museum to house her son’s works in Albi, where Toulouse-Lautrec had been born, and it is partly due to her that Lautrec’s works are so famous today.

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