La Goulue, Circa 1965

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec   Famous Artists

Henri Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa was born in 1864 in Albi. Son of the Count of Toulouse-Lautrec and Countess Adèle Zoé Marie Marquette Tapié de Céleyran, Lautrec has one of the biggest names in France and his vocation as an artist somewhat surprised his family. In 1879, after a first fracture in one leg, Lautrec broke his other leg due to spontaneous fractures which prevented his lower limbs from developing. He remains crippled. Subsequently, in 1881, he stopped his studies and moved towards the studio of the academic painter Bonnat on the advice of his first teacher, Princeteau. He began to take an interest in Japanese art and left the Bonnat workshop for that of Cormon the following year. The years pass and he frees himself more and more from academia and settles in Montmartre in the heart of the nightlife. In 1885, Aristide Bruant opened the cabaret Le Mirliton. Lautrec frequents the cabarets of Montmartre.

From the 1890s, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibited at Le Barc de Boutteville, with Anquetin, Emile Bernard, Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis. He signed his first poster which made him famous: Moulin-Rouge (La Goulue). 2 years later, Lautrec created a poster for his friend Jane Avril, a dancer in the French cancan quadrille; he also represented her in the Japanese Divan, in Jane Avril au Jardin de Paris, 1893, and in a final Jane Avril poster in 1899. Lautrec made the first poster in the Bruant series, Aristide Bruant aux Ambassadeurs. At the same time, he entered the world of Revue Blanche and became familiar with the Natanson brothers, Tristan Bernard and Romain Coolus. He regularly frequented brothels and was passionate about the theater.

In 1895, La Goulue asked him for a decor for his fairground booth, traveling with his friend Joyant to London where he met Oscar Wilde and Whistler. A year later, he moved to 30, rue Fontaine and traveled by boat with his friend Joyant to Lisbon (The passenger of 54). He is passionate about cycling and follows Tristan Bernard to the velodromes.

In 1897, he published the album Elles, the fruit of his work in brothels, the frontispiece of which was used as a poster. He exhibited in 1898 at the Galerie Goupil in London. Lautrec publishes his second album dedicated to Yvette Guilbert. 1 year later, Lautrec was interned for three months in a nursing home. In 1901, at the age of 37, he died in Malromé with his mother. His body is buried in Verdelais.