Henri Toulouse-Lautrec: The unconventional life of a leading painter
The vibrant cabarets, winding alleys, and the iconic Moulin Rouge, all filled with a cast of women – performers, dancers, and sex workers – these are the scenes synonymous with Toulouse Lautrec, one of the greatest French engravers, painters, designers, and illustrators in the annals of art history.
The women he encountered in the Parisian cabarets and the streets of Montmartre, and his depictions of the colourful yet decadent theatrical life of Paris in the late nineteenth century, are immortalized through his work.
As a nobleman of small stature, he lived among the women of the night, who would have otherwise been forgotten, observing and participating in the artistic yet shadowy lifestyle of his era.
Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France, the eldest child of Count Alphonse and Countess Adele de Toulouse-Lautrec. His family was of aristocratic lineage but had fallen into impoverishment due to the effects of inbreeding from previous generations – in fact, the Count and Countess were first cousins. Henri bore the brunt of this family tradition, suffering from various congenital ailments.
At the age of thirteen, Henri broke his left femur, and a year later, his right. The fractures did not heal properly, a condition modern doctors attribute to an unknown genetic disorder, possibly pycnodysostosis (known as Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome) or incomplete osteogenesis. He also had rickets, and his legs stopped growing prematurely, leaving him with an adult height of only 1.54 m (5 ft 6 in): he had the torso of a grown man but the legs of a child, which were just 0.70 m (2 ft 3 in) long.
Physically unable to partake in most activities typically enjoyed by men his age, he sought solace in his art.
In 1882, he moved to Paris to study art, where he soon became acquainted with other artists such as Emile Bernard and Van Gogh, the latter of whom he painted a portrait.
Though he was initially trained in traditional academic art, he soon broke away from the constraints of perspective to dive into avant-garde experimentation, drawing heavy influence from Eastern aesthetics, particularly Japonisme.
He found his haven in Montmartre, a neighborhood renowned for its bohemian lifestyle and a popular haunt for artists, writers, and philosophers. It was in the secluded garden of Monsieur Pere Forêt that Lautrec created a series of plein-air paintings of Carmen Godin, the fiery redhead who was the muse for his work The Laundress (1888).
Lautrec mingled with a diverse crowd, ranging from the impoverished to the rich and famous. His early works were focused on the models themselves, but from 1886 onwards, he shifted his gaze to the vibrant scenes of nightclubs, brothels, bars, and racecourses, capturing the interactions of various individuals.
Lautrec immersed himself in the world of laborers, dealers, criminals, pimps, prostitutes, and fellow bohemian artists. He found his subjects in the dimly lit alleys, bars, and brothels, as well as the famed clubs of the era like Chat Noir (The Black Cat), Lapin Agile (The Swift Rabbit), and Cigale (The Cicada). This decadent and destructive journey led him down a creative path that firmly established him among the post-impressionists and forever intertwined his legacy with the nightlife of his era.
When the Moulin Rouge cabaret opened, Lautrec was commissioned to create a series of posters. This not only provided him with a steady income but also a regular allowance from his family. The cabaret further honored him by reserving a spot to display his paintings. Among the notable works he created for it and other Parisian nightclubs include portraits of singer Yvette Gilbert, dancer Louise Vebère, infamously known as La Goulue (The Glutton) who popularized the French Can-Can, and dancer Jean Avril.
Lautrec spent a significant amount of time in brothels, where he was so accepted by the prostitutes and madams that he often lived there for weeks on end. He shared in the lives of these women, becoming their confidant and capturing them in his paintings and drawings, both at work and during their leisure time. Lautrec documented their intimate relationships, which were often lesbian in nature.
Toulouse-Lautrec’s favored muse was a red-haired prostitute known as Rosa the Red, from whom he reportedly contracted syphilis.
He taught painting to Susanne Valadon, who was one of his models and potentially his mistress. Valadon herself later became a renowned painter, the mother of Utrillo, and the lover of Eric Satie.
Throughout his career, which spanned less than two decades, Toulouse-Lautrec produced an impressive body of work, including 737 canvases, 275 watercolors, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, as well as a number of ceramics and stained glass pieces. An unknown quantity of his works have unfortunately been lost over time. Toulouse-Lautrec is celebrated as one of the greatest painters of the post-impressionist era, alongside Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. His works clearly reflect the influence of the Impressionists, particularly the figurative styles of Manet and Degas. He was deeply embedded in the world he painted, immortalizing his surroundings with an unrivaled power. Like Degas, he worked with a wide variety of materials. By 1891, his reputation as a designer of posters and lithographs was firmly established.
Toulouse-Lautrec’s works draw comparisons to Manet’s depiction of a bored waitress in “The Bar at the Folies Bergère” and Degas’ backstage ballet dancers. He had a knack for capturing people in their work settings, portraying the vibrancy and movement of high-society nightlife, but devoid of its glamour.
He was a master at depicting crowd scenes, in which each figure is distinct and individualized. When these larger paintings were first created, the individual figures could only be recognized by their silhouettes. The identities of many of these characters have been recorded over time.
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Toulouse-Lautrec’s talent for portraying people was rooted in his unique painting style, which emphasized linearity and contour. He often applied color in elongated, thin strokes, allowing much of the underlying panel to show through. Many of his pieces can aptly be described as vibrant, colourful sketches.
Throughout his life, Lorrec grappled with alcoholism and abuse, leading to a shattered state of health due to mental and physical exhaustion. In his quest for uninhibited creativity, he also chose a path that led to his own demise.
In 1899, Lorrec was hospitalised and forced to put aside his paintbrushes. His health never fully recovered, leading him to return to his parents’ home. It was there, in his mother’s arms, that he succumbed to complications from alcoholism and syphilis, paralysed, on September 9, 1901. This was just a few months shy of his 37th birthday.
His final words are reported to have been: “Le vieux con!” translating to “Old fool!” in English. Following his death, his mother and Maurice Joyan, his art dealer, worked diligently to promote his artwork.
