TOULOUSE-LAUTREC Henri Marie Raymond de (1864-1901) - French painter, one of the brightest representatives of post-impressionism.
Born into an old noble family. As a child, he fell from a horse twice, broke both legs and remained crippled for the rest of his life. This physical defect left its mark on later life artist. Interest in drawing arose under the influence of the artist R. Princeto. He studied with L. Bonn (1883) and F. Cormon (1884-1885). The art of E. Degas and Japanese prints.
The artist's mother at breakfast, 1882
The artist's early works, which depict mainly his close friends and relatives ("Countess Toulouse-Lautrec at breakfast in Malrome", 1883; "Countess Adele de Toulouse-Lautrec", 1887 - both in the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi), were painted using impressionistic techniques, but the master’s desire to convey the individual characteristics of each of his models as truthfully as possible, sometimes even mercilessly, speaks of a fundamentally new understanding of the human image (“Young woman sitting at a table”, 1889, Van Gogh Collection, Laren; “The Laundress” , 1889, Dortu Collection, Paris).
Laundress, 1889
Subsequently, A. de Toulouse-Lautrec improved the ways and means of conveying the psychological state of models, while maintaining an interest in reproducing their unique appearance (“In the Cafe”, 1891, Museum fine arts, Boston; "La Goulue entering the Moulin Rouge", 1891-1892, Museum contemporary art, New York).
La Goulue entering the Moulin Rouge, 1891
The artist’s satirical view of the world of the theater, night cafes, the artistic bohemia of Paris and the degenerate patrons of brothels is expressed in the grotesque exaggeration that he uses when painting such paintings as “Dance at the Moulin Rouge” (1890, private collection), “Valentin’s Classes” with new girls at the Moulin Rouge" (1889-1890, Museum of Art, Philadelphia), etc.
Dance at the Moulin Rouge, 1890
For his contemporaries, A. de Toulouse-Lautrec was first and foremost a master psychological portrait and creator of theater posters.
Poster Jeanne Avril, 1893
All of his portraits can be divided into two groups: in the first, the model is, as it were, opposed to the viewer and looks him straight in the eyes ("Justine Diel", 1889, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; "Portrait of Monsieur Boileau", c. 1893, Cleveland Museum of Art ), in the second she is presented in a familiar setting, reflecting her daily activities, profession or habits ("Living room at the Château de Malromé", 1886-1887; "Désirée Diau (Reading a newspaper in the garden)", 1890 - both in the Toulouse Museum -Lautrec, Albie; "Portrait of Madame de Gortzicoff, 1893, private collection). In order for the viewer's attention to be concentrated on inner world his model, he makes its external features less sharp, blurry, uses an abstract background, and in later paintings - a landscape or some everyday objects and furnishings, revealing the true essence of his characters.
Justine Diel in Forest's garden, 1890
Reading a newspaper in the garden, 1890
A. de Toulouse-Lautrec was never interested in the problem of the effect of light on the surface of depicted objects, but gradually his palette brightened, and a sophisticated combination of several colors, mainly green and violet, became business card most of his works.
A. de Toulouse-Lautrec never embellished his models, but in even his most “rough” portraits one can always feel the artist’s sympathy, expressed in a concise form with several energetic strokes (“Toilet (Redhead)”, 1889, Orsay Museum, Paris; “Rue de Moulin", 1894, National Gallery of Art, Washington).
Toilet, 1889
Rue de Moulin: medical examination, 1894
A. de Toulouse-Lautrec made a great contribution to the development of the poster genre; his work was highly appreciated by his contemporaries. In total, during his life he painted about 30 posters ("Jane Avril at the Jardin de Paris", 1893; "Divan japonais", 1893 - both in the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi), in which his magnificent talent as a draftsman was most clearly expressed. The artist has a brilliant command of the line, makes it whimsically twist along the contour of the model and at the dictates of the moment, creating works that are distinguished by their exquisite decorativeness. The large single-color fields of his paintings are especially expressive.
Chronology of life
1864
Born on November 24 in Albi, in southwestern France, in the family of Count Alphonse and Countess Adele de Toulouse-Lautrec
1878
Two accidents occur, resulting in both legs being broken. The boy's growth stops after this.
1882
He moves with his mother to Paris, where he enters the studio of the artist Leon Bonn. Later he moves to the workshop of Fernand Cormon.
1884
He opens his own studio in Montmartre, where he plunges headlong into the life of bohemia.
1891
Becomes famous throughout Paris thanks to his poster made for the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
1892
Visits London for the first time. This and subsequent trips to the banks of the Thames are organized by the artist’s friends, trying to return him to normal life.
1899
The artist is diagnosed with alcoholism. Sick with syphilis. At the insistence of his mother, he is treated for three months in a psychiatric clinic near Paris.
1900
Spends the winter in Bordeaux. In the spring of next year he returns to Paris completely ill.
1901
In July he leaves Paris to spend the summer on the Atlantic coast. In August, after a stroke, Lautrec becomes paralyzed. On September 9 he died at his family estate near Bordeaux.
1 - Girl in a corset
2 - Two friends
3 - Two friends
4 - A la mie
5 - Femme tirant sur son bas
6 - In bed
7 - Clown Woman
8 - Jeanne Avril
9 - Loneliness
10 - Woman with a pelvis
11 - Scantily clad woman
12 - Portrait of a cousin
13 - Beginning of the quadrille at the Moulin Rouge
14 - Hanged Man
15 - Washing woman
16 - Yvette Guilbert
17 - Jockeys
18 - Cabaret Japanese sofa
19 - What does the rain say
20 - Examination at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris
21 - Reading room at Melroom Castle
22 - Portrait of Louis Pascal
23 - Portrait of Oscar Wilde
24 - Seated Sha-Yu-Kao
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC HENRI
(b. 1864 - d. 1901)
“I’m banging my head against the wall! And all this is for art, which is slipping out of my hands and, perhaps, will never be grateful to me for what I am doing for it now.”
Toulouse-Lautrec
“We understand now that Toulouse-Lautrec seemed too unusual to us only because he was natural to the extreme.”
Tristan Bernard
Toulouse-Lautrec lived a short but colorful life. Despite his injury, he never expected compassion from people and laughed at himself, forestalling ridicule from the outside. He devoted himself entirely to art and worked tirelessly every day, despite his poor health.
Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864 in Albi, a city located in the southeastern part of the French Massif Central. He was the son of Count Alfonso de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfat and Countess Adele, née Tapier de Seleyrand. The father of the future artist came from an old aristocratic family that had lived in the vicinity of Toulouse since the 12th century. Mother was born into the family of an influential government official. The artist's father and mother were cousins, but marriages between the Lautrecs and Tapiers were not uncommon. Some researchers believe that Henri's pain and subsequent injuries are to some extent explained precisely by the fact that he was born in a consanguineous marriage.
Toulouse-Lautrec received a good home education, as befitted a descendant of one of the most ancient and noble families in the country. In 1872, he entered the elite Lycée Fountain (now Lycée Condorcet). A lively and temperamental boy, he was much smaller in height than his peers. Narrow shoulders, thin legs, sunken chest - everything seemed to foretell impending trouble. The father was the complete opposite of his son. Tall and large, a tireless hunter and traveler, a passionate lover of women and horse racing, he led a stormy life and hoped that the only heir (his second son Richard died before he was a year old) would follow in his footsteps. Alas, Henri was destined for a completely different fate.
The boy passionately wanted to be like his father. Hunting, walking with dogs and horse riding determined the rhythm of life of young Lautrec. At the same time, his first sketches and watercolors appeared, demonstrating the undeniable talent of the young author. When he was thirteen years old, his father gave his son a manual on falconry with the inscription: “Remember, my son, that life can only be healthy in the wild, among nature. Captivity leads to degeneration and death."
On May 30, 1878, Henri fell unsuccessfully from a low chair. What would have been just an unfortunate episode for another teenager became a tragedy for him: the fall led to a fracture of the neck of his left femur. Gypsum. Weeks of immobility. Moving in a wheelchair. All doctors and all medications have been tried, but the boy’s bones are too fragile and do not heal well.
However, both he and his loving mother still hoped for recovery. But the miracle did not happen. The following summer, history repeated itself - while walking, Henri slipped and fell into a small ravine. As a result, a fracture of the right femoral neck.
He will remain crippled forever, moreover, his legs will partially atrophy and his growth will stop (the height of an adult Lautrec barely reached 1.5 m). Handsome boy turns into an ugly young man: a disproportionately large head, a huge nose, short legs.
But Henri does not lose heart. He courageously and with his characteristic humor tries to come to terms with his fate. Sick and bedridden, Lautrec writes: “I draw and write as much as I can until my hand falls from fatigue.” The boy's talent becomes more and more obvious, and the mother begins to understand that in front of her is a future talented artist. Countess Adele continues to take her son to hospitals. The pain in my legs is gradually subsiding. In 1880, Lautrec wrote in his diary about his “passion for drawing.”
When Count Alfonso finally realized that his son would never ride a horse and would not become a continuer of traditions and an heir to the de Toulouse-Lautrec lifestyle, he simply stopped caring for the boy. Until his death, the artist perceived his father’s attitude as a betrayal. He was strongly attached to his mother, who understood from the very beginning that her son would become an artist. They were brought very close by joint trips to resorts after the tragic turning point in 1878–1879. The mother was the only member of this noble family who understood and accepted Henri's work. In 1892, the artist wrote to her: “My family cannot share my joy, but you are something completely different.”
In November 1881, he took the exam for a bachelor's degree, but due to an uncontrollable desire to study only painting, he stopped further studies.
On the advice of René Princesteau, an animal painter and family friend, Toulouse-Lautrec began studying with the famous artist Léon Bonnat in March 1882. Bonn's workshop was one of the most famous in Paris. The master bluntly declares to the aspiring artist: “There is something in your work, overall it’s not bad, but your drawing is simply terrible!” Criticism only spurs Henri on, and he plunges headlong into his work.
In the winter of 1882, Bonnat closed his workshop, and Henri moved to Fernand Cormon, also a recognized painter specializing in historical topics. At Cormon's, Henri met Vincent Van Gogh, Emile Bernard, Louise Anquetino and other young artists. Friendships develop between them, but at the same time creative rivalry arises.
Gradually, the friends move away from the traditional, conservative style taught by Cormon. At first they are infatuated with impressionism, but soon their inherent innovative tendencies appear in their work. The period of trials and experiments in painting coincides with the changes that occur in the lifestyle of Toulouse-Lautrec. The young artist discovers Montmartre, at that time a poor district of Paris that became the abode of artistic bohemia, and falls in love with the relaxed atmosphere reigning there.
In the summer of 1884, Lautrec left his parents' house in Paris and moved to live in Montmartre, in the apartment of the young artist René Grenier, whom he met while studying with Cormon. In the same house on the rue Fontaine, on the ground floor in 1879–1891, the studio of Edgar Degas, whom Lautrec considered one of the best contemporary artists, was located.
The artist's mother is unhappy with this decision. She is afraid that without her her son will go down the “crooked” path. However, he often writes letters to her, and this calms Countess Adele a little. “I’m bored in bars, I have no desire to leave the house, the only thing left to do is paint and sleep.” The artist’s decision does not delight the father, who would like his son to live in a more decent area, for example on the Champs Elysees.
It soon became clear that the parents’ concern was completely justified: the artist’s life was changing very quickly. In letters written in the spring and summer of 1886, there are hints of an “addiction to the bottle.” It even happens that he writes to his mother about the nights he spent “on the pavement.”
IN late XIX century, Montmartre was known as the habitat of subverters of the established order. In numerous cabarets and music bars, the legitimacy of existing social norms and prohibitions was constantly questioned. Montmartre of that time was the center of corrupt love. Toulouse-Lautrec opens there completely special world, still unknown to him, and this world will be reflected in his works. In a letter dated December 1886, he states that he does not want to write about what he is currently painting, as he believes that some of his paintings are “beyond what is permitted.” It even comes to the point that he begins to sign his paintings with a pseudonym, so as not to compromise the eminent family.
IN recent months While studying with Cormon (which ended in early 1887), Lautrec devoted less and less time to traditional themes and techniques. Along with the classical technique of writing, he increasingly uses impressionistic techniques that enliven his drawings. First of all, he chooses a realistic theme, which will dominate his subsequent works: city celebrations, street performances, dance evenings, circus, cabaret, theater.
The bold images of his paintings will cause him to leave (or expel) from his usual circle secular society. The more Lautrec moves away from his aristocratic relatives, the stronger his connection with the world of Montmartre becomes apparent, which becomes a source of inexhaustible inspiration for the artist. In the mid-80s, Lautrec led a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle. He is a regular visitor to the Mirliton cabaret, owned by his friend, singer and composer Aristide Bruan. For a long time, his first and, apparently, only love was Suzanne Valadon, who was first a model for Edgar Degas and Auguste Renoir, and later became a famous artist herself.
Montmartre then thundered with music in the evenings and was famous throughout Paris for its constant entertainment and dancing. In “Moulin de la Galette”, and later in “Moulin Rouge”, Lautrec enthusiastically watches the frivolous steps of the cancan, fashionable at that time. Then he met the “cabaret stars” of that time, the dancers who became his “muses” - La Goulue, Jane Avril and the pop clown Sha-Yu-Kao.
The artist does not miss the opportunity to visit the brothels of Montmartre. It happens that he spends there for several weeks at a time. These nocturnal adventures become the source of his inspiration. As he himself said: “Every evening I go to work in a bar.” His best friend, Maurice Zhuayan, confirming what has been said, clarifies: “Some brothels became his main apartment. Lautrec painted there without a break, noting every incident in the lives of the inhabitants of these establishments.”
Lautrec's work is a kind of poem dedicated to women. Dancers, laundresses, women lung behavior, just the artist’s friends - they all became a source of inspiration for him. Being in the world of women, Lautrec depicted their lives with great passion - sometimes with irony, but always sensuality shines through his paintings. His friend Paul Leclerc recalled: “Lautrec adored women, and the less logical they behaved, the more he liked them. He had only one condition: they had to be real.”
The first exhibition of Toulouse-Lautrec's works took place in 1886 at the Mirliton cabaret. In May of the following year, Lautrec exhibited his work in Toulouse, as part of the International Exhibition organized by the Academy of Fine Arts, under the pseudonym Treclos. But only participation in the Brussels Exhibition XX, where eleven of his works were presented, brings him true recognition. From this moment on, Lautrec feels like a real artist. He writes to his mother that “you need to exhibit wherever possible, because this the only possibility to be noticed."
He does not take part in the official Parisian Salons, but exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants, organized under the motto “Without payment or rewards,” together with such artists as Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and Camille Pissarro. At the sixth "Salon"
Independents” in March 1890, Lautrec presents “Dance at the Moulin Rouge” and “Mademoiselle Dio at the Piano”. After many years of training in academicism, Lautrec comes to the extreme avant-garde. But at the same time, he distances himself from all existing trends, defending his creative independence.
By 1891, Lautrec's unique style was finally formed. He has finally become an artist whose works are of interest to art lovers, exhibition organizers, and publishing houses. His work is warmly received by critics. The artist exhibits together with Nabids 18 and representatives of other movements of the then avant-garde.
The work of Toulouse-Lautrec bears the imprint of his time. Mastering diverse artistic techniques, being carried away by various trends in painting, he, nevertheless, was able to maintain his originality. His original and distinctive style allowed him to capture the spirit of the era in which he lived and which he closely observed. Its principle creative life was to draw and depict what seemed truly important, even if it was fleeting moments. He made painting the property of ordinary people.
Although almost all artistic trends of the late nineteenth century can be seen in the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, his works cannot be attributed to any one movement. This is not realism, not impressionism and not symbolism. He repeated: “I do not belong to any school, but work independently in my corner.” The originality of his work fully corresponded to his unusual nature.
Like everyone great artist, Toulouse-Lautrec absorbed the traditions of both old and modern masters. Like all artists of his time, Lautrec experienced a passion for impressionism. On his first canvases, executed in 1878 and 1879, the strokes are intermittent, and light colors predominate in the palette. Among the Impressionists, Lautrec preferred those artists in whose work portraits dominated over landscapes - Edouard Manet and Auguste Renoir. “Only man exists,” said Lautrec. “Landscape is something additional and should be used only to show the essence of human nature and the character of a person.” About Claude Monet he said: “He would have been where the best artist, if only I had not abandoned the images of people to such an extent.”
He adored Edgar Degas. From the mid-1880s, while he was studying classical art in Cormon's studio, Lautrec adopted and later began to use the techniques characteristic of Degas. He appreciated Degas's color scheme and the subtle lighting effects achieved through his unique technique. It was the techniques borrowed from Degas that allowed Lautrec to capture the very essence of fleeting scenes and masterfully convey it on his canvases. Lautrec became a worthy successor to Degas, which was especially evident when he began to paint scenes in cabarets and cafes in Montmartre.
Toulouse-Lautrec drew inspiration from various sources. To understand his work in all depth, you need to turn to Italian artist Renaissance Vittore Carpaccio, to the Dutch Rembrandt and Frans Hals, as well as to the Gothic, to the masters of Japanese engraving. Lautrec was not afraid to combine his own techniques with modern trends. In the early 1990s, he was close to the work of the Nabids and Symbolists, which made his drawings calmer and his color scheme more harmonious. Lautrec's lithographs become more decorative, and a period of creative flourishing begins. Without breaking away from themes close to reality, Lautrec introduces the grotesque into his work, close to his ironic character.
Lautrec brings his paintings closer to caricature. Already while learning to draw in classical courses fine arts the artist had problems with accurately conveying nature. “His paintings were never an exact reflection of reality: they had some elements that brought them closer to it. He reflected life in striking images,” said journalist and critic Felix Feneon.
Lautrec had all the prerequisites to draw caricatures. He was greatly influenced by cartoonists: Honoré Damier and Jean-Louis Foran. He finds in them the same disdain for everything ordered and idealized that he himself is distinguished by. Like them, he prefers the mercilessness of caricature to the “polite and beautiful” art of drawing. Lautrec's gaze becomes even more critical and sharp.
It must be remembered that Lautrec's irony does not arise from schadenfreude. Quite the contrary, satirical images his dancers are full of warmth and sympathy. This is confirmed by posters representing dancer Jane Avril and cabaret singer Yvette Hilbert.
His flagellating pencil is not without compassion. “You sing praises in honor of the scoundrel and at the same time point out his open wounds,” one of the journalists addressed Lautrec in 1893. A year later, another critic praised his "accurate observations, full of causticity and ridicule." Toulouse-Lautrec was considered an artist of his era. You can find many historical moments in his paintings. He himself emphasized the need for truth. He often stated when talking about his work: “I tried to convey the truth.” The precision of his strokes allowed him to convey the naked reality of the end of the century. This is the greatness of the art of Toulouse-Lautrec.
At the end of the century, painting technology is experiencing a new round of development. Drawings in magazines, sketches in newspapers, lithographs in theater programs, advertising on the walls: a new reality of art is born. Toulouse-Lautrec uses his talent in new areas that have opened up. When working on posters, he is forced to use a limited number of colors, which are applied in flat spots. This increases his tendency to make unexpected and risky decisions and, in the end, becomes characteristic feature his creativity.
Using new printing techniques, Toulouse-Lautrec makes improvements in this area. Full of enthusiasm, he writes to his mother: “I have invented a new technique in lithography. My experiments are moving forward without problems." In 1891, lithography became the center of his interests. His first own work of this kind - “La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge” - gained resounding success. The minimalist style Lautrec used fully met the requirements of the advertising poster. During this period, painting was relegated to the background. He begins to collaborate with publishing houses. Orders flow to him like a river: covers for scores, maps and menus for restaurants, illustrations for books.
At the end of 1894, by his own admission, he was overwhelmed with work. Lautrec's work takes on a completely different direction. He is being introduced into the wider social environment, not wanting to seek recognition from salons and galleries. His art becomes accessible to everyone. Certainly, most These works are about making money, but this does not prevent the artist from creating works of the highest quality. His posters are masterpieces. The critic Felix Feneon called Lautrec a “street artist”: “Here, instead of paintings covered in gilded frames and covered with dust, you can find the art of real life, colored posters. This exhibition is under open air accessible to everyone."
At the beginning of 1896, the Parisian gallery Mangis-Zhuayan organized a large exhibition of works by Toulouse-Lautrec. But the artist’s health is deteriorating, which each time has a more noticeable effect on his work.
In the last period, the life story of Toulouse-Lautrec turns from a farce into a tragedy.
The lifestyle that the artist led for ten years undermined his already fragile body. Lautrec increasingly complains of weakness. Early in 1898 he writes: “Even a small effort becomes unbearable. My creativity suffers because of this, and I still have so much to do.” He becomes more and more aggressive and restless. His inherent humor and love of life leave the artist.
But he continues to create, create with passion, even at night, often with a bottle of wine. In this state, he creates about 60 lithographs, presented at an exhibition dedicated to his work in the London hall of the Goupil Gallery in 1898. The artist falls asleep during the opening day, which the future King Edward VII honored with his presence.
Throughout the winter, he drinks continuously (alcoholism becomes chronic), suffers from insomnia, hallucinations and persecution mania. In March 1899, relatives admitted Toulouse-Lautrec to a psychiatric clinic near Paris, in the town of Neuilly. Being in the hospital depresses him. “I am in captivity, but where there is no freedom, degeneration and death occur!” - he writes to his father, repeating it own words. In May, Henri leaves the clinic and finds the strength to create the beautiful album “Circus”.
Over the next two years, his paintings became increasingly gloomy and melancholic. During this period, a distant relative, Paul Villot, was with him, assigned by his relatives to supervise him so that the artist did not drink. In the spring of 1901, as if anticipating his death, Lautrec put things in order in his studio, completed sketches and signed paintings that did not have his signature.
On July 15 he leaves Paris with Paul Villot. The state of health is deteriorating. His legs are gone. His mother takes him to the Malrome family estate, where on September 9, 1901, at the age of 37, he dies in her arms.
The work of Toulouse-Lautrec became a source of inspiration for Egon Schiele and Auguste Rodin. His portraits inspired Eduard Munch, for whom Toulouse-Lautrec was an unsurpassed genius in painting portraits. It should not be forgotten that he influenced Pablo Picasso, who delightedly discovered Lautrec’s work on his first visit to Paris. But not only artists paid tribute to the genius of Toulouse-Lautrec. The famous director Federico Fellini said this about the great artist: “I have always considered Lautrec my brother and friend. Maybe because it was he who anticipated the film's frame compression, and after him the Lumiere brothers made their invention. And also, probably, because he, like me, was attracted to torn to pieces and discarded creatures.”
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Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography, interesting facts from the life of an impressionist artist and paintings in between. Lautrec was a very curious person and his life is no less interesting than his paintings. Lautrec is an artist of night cabarets and the Moulin Rouge in particular. It was the Moulin Rouge cabaret that served as a springboard for Lautrec to fame.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography, family and childhood.
So, imagine, here lives a family of these standard, self-satisfied aristocrats. Cousin Alphonse (father) is married to a cousin (mother). Well, without incest, it’s an aristocracy. Mom is a quiet, kind woman, from the series of fasting, praying, listening to Radio Radonezh.
Dad is an exemplary eccentric aristocrat, a kind of crazy horseman, the life of the party, a lover of falconry and blackjack and whores of entertainment. According to rumors, he also loved eccentric antics a la Salvador Dali. If you believe Wikipedia, then love for prostitutes, alcohol, fairs, circuses and gloss Henri de Toulouse Lautrec the younger owes it to the elder.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography. Attitude to the artist’s work in the family.
However, nothing human is alien to aristocrats; Henri’s father and mother were educated people good draftsmen. In the houses of the Lautrecs there were a lot of different paintings, drawings and sketches, and drawing was a frequent pastime. 
Alphonse Lautrec’s friends also included Rene Princesteau, a skilled artist of all kinds of hunts, dogs and horses, from whom father and son often took lessons. It was René Princesteau who first noticed the talent Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and taught him the skill quick sketch, drawing nature in motion.
All this, however, did not stop the father from reproaching his son for daring, unscrupulously, to become an artist. A descendant of an ancient family, he makes money (this alone is terrifying) by daubing canvas. Disgrace. Okay, okay, maybe I’m distorting a little - my father was a distinguished lover of painting, and in Lautrec’s work he was rather outraged by Henri’s manner as an artist and the objects of the image (well, prostitutes, cabaret performers, etc.). As they say, there is an impressionist in the family.
Biography of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, childhood and illness
So, in this family, where the husband changes women like gloves and poisons the unfortunate animals with falcons, and the mother quietly prays, a poor fellow is born Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. These circumstances alone could not have a positive effect on the child’s psyche. The hyper-protection of the mother and numerous castle servants also left their indelible imprint.
As a child, Henri, just like his father, loved to ride horses and chase animals. However, he did not differ in physical development and was often sick. However, he was a smart little guy and studied well. I was especially good at languages: Latin, English, everything. And everything would be fine, but at the age of 14 he falls and breaks his leg. Tellingly, he falls off his chair.
Obviously, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was sick with some kind of hereditary disease, like Lobstein's disease (crystal bone syndrome). This is followed by a long period of rehabilitation, all sorts of sanatoriums, Nice and people in white coats. And so, after a long recovery, a little more than a year later, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec the Younger falls again, this time into a ditch and again breaks his bones. Amazing luck. These injuries, as well as a possible genetic disease, led to “dwarfism” - the lower limbs practically stopped growing. Which saddened my father beyond words. 
He was counting, in the end, on a worthy successor to the family, who would do things worthy of an aristocrat - i.e. chase partridges, beat up frivolous high-born ladies, marry advantageously, and then die to fight for your homeland. Now hunting, balls and many other useless things social entertainment the aristocracy were inaccessible to Henri. But, every silver lining is without a beaver, as the artist himself said: “surprisingly, if my legs were a little longer, I would never have started painting.” During his illness, his passion for painting finally took over Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. At that time, he painted mainly his surroundings: animals, nature and relatives.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec in Montmartre.
Soon, the artist, together with his mother, moved to Paris, where he studied in the workshop of Leon Bonn, by the way, a fairly good portrait painter. Bonna, a stern academic mastodon, despite all the zeal and reverence of Henri, however, did not appreciate Lautrec’s talent. Leona soon dissolves her workshop and Henri moves to study with Fernand Cormon (the same one with whom Van Gogh studied). Although Cormon himself gravitated toward academic painting, he still held broader views than Bonna. 
At the age of 19, the artist decides that it is time and moves to Montmartre. This is where Henri de Toulouse Lautrec goes into all sorts of troubles, doesn’t leave the taverns for days on end and works all day long, drawing prostitutes, circus performers, artists and regulars, not forgetting to drink liters of wine. Henri's second home was the Mirliton cabaret, and its owner Bruan became one of his best friends. Toulouse Lautrec shuttled between hot spots in Montmartre: Cha Noir, Moulin de la Galette, Mirliton.
The artist lived to the fullest, trying to drown out disappointment in himself and mental pain due to his physical defect with the brilliance of Montmartre, drawing and alcohol. However, among the motley crowd of the demimonde, the artist felt like he belonged; Montmartre of that time, this refuge of assorted outcasts, tramps, freaks, artists and rakes, became a real home for the artist. 
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
So, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, in fact, lived, painted, was in an alcoholic haze and periodically visited nature somewhere on the estate. Lautrec's paintings, however, were not particularly popular until Joseph Oller decided to open the Moulin Rouge. Lautrec's real fame as an artist began with the poster of this cabaret. Henri's style, with its laconicism, brightness and subtle psychologism, could not be more suitable for a graphic poster. After Lautrec's posters, crowds of people flocked to the Moulin Rouge, and Lautrec himself was known to no less people than the cabaret host - La Goulue. We can say that Moulin Rouge owes its success, not least to Lautrec. Henri was even given a separate table in this cabaret, where other visitors could not sit. 
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, syphilis and the last days.
Here he should settle down, get some vicious model wife and rest on his laurels, drawing pictures and posters. But, as often happens in this case, wine and an inferiority complex got in the way. Or maybe Lautrec was simply unlucky and that’s why he never met his “ “?
Be that as it may, the years of pouring alcohol down our throats were not in vain. In addition, trips to prostitutes, which the artist loved so much, also brought a gift. As always, suddenly, one of the prostitutes (Red Rose) infected Henri de Toulouse Lautrec with syphilis. And maybe the body could cope, people live with syphilis for many years until their nose falls off, and sometimes they even recover (for reference, spontaneous recovery from syphilis occurs in 30% of cases, but still, you shouldn’t hope for luck). However, years in an alcoholic haze and lack of sleep, which weakened the immune system, took their toll.
Attempts by relatives to cure Henri's alcoholism failed. After treatment at the Toulouse clinic, Lautrec soon began drinking again. As they say, I’m sad and sad when I’m sober, and I’m happy when I’m drunk. The ending is, of course, a little predictable. Gradually, Henri’s balls began to go behind the rollers due to syphilis and alcoholic psychosis. He became irritable and paranoid and began to hallucinate. In the end, Lautrec suffers a stroke, after which he and his last days he lives in the hospital, where Henri suffers another stroke. Henri's last words are said to have been "Old Fool", apparently addressed to his father. Such things.
Such things. I think Lautrec’s problems with women were caused not only by physical imperfection, and not even so much by it, but by an inferiority complex. In the end, he is not such a freak as he is described as. Well, yes, far from handsome, well, a dwarf. But he is witty and the life of the party. Are there a few freaks who have had success with women? Have you ever seen Diego Rivera? Yes, Lautrec is a handsome playboy compared to him.
Are there not many women who don’t pay too much attention to appearance? It is clear that not a single aristocrat would connect her life with a dwarf, but Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, with his fame, money and hanging tongue, could very well find himself a normal woman among the demi-monde of Montmartre.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, film
Laughter through tears - this is how this film can be briefly described. An excellent biographical film that quite accurately describes the artist’s life and reflects the spirit of that era. I highly recommend it. I liked the film
Lautrec, Lautrec, France, 1998 - full title. You can download it on torrents.
Only next to clowns, acrobats, dancers and prostitutes did Henri de Toulouse feel like he belonged. Contemporaries did not accept the artist’s work. Having natural talent and not being constrained by funds, Toulouse-Lautrec could receive an excellent artistic education. However, having mastered the basics of painting from modern masters, he began to develop his own innovative aesthetics, far from academicism. Refusal of naturalism and detail (no folds on clothes, carefully drawn hairs), an emphasized, caricature-like, grotesque manner of conveying the facial features and plasticity of the characters, an abundance of movement and vivid emotions - these are the main characteristics of his style.
On November 24, 1864, in the city of Albi, in the ancient family castle of the Counts of Toulouse Lautrec, a boy was born, who was named Henri de Toulouse - Lautrec. Lautrec's mother, née Tapier de Seleyrand, Countess Adele, and Count Alphonse de Toulouse - Lautrec - Monfat, the artist's father, belonged to the highest circles of the aristocracy in France. The parents treated little Henri with particular care; in him they saw the successor of the family, the heir to one of the most significant families in the country. Count Alphonse imagined how his son would accompany him on horseback rides around the count's grounds and on falconry trips. WITH early age the father taught the boy horse riding and hunting terminology, introduced him to his favorites - the stallion Usurper and the mare Volga. Henri grew up as a sweet, charming child, bringing joy to his loved ones. WITH light hand one of Lautrec Jr.’s grandmothers was called in the family “ Little Treasure" Cheerful, lively, attentive and inquisitive, with lively dark eyes, he delighted everyone who saw him. At three years old, he required a pen to sign his name. They objected to him that he could not write. “Well, let it be,” Henri replied, “I’ll draw a bull.”
Childhood is considered happy times in a person's life. But this happiness was overshadowed by drama or even tragedy for Henri. Born with poor health, he was often ill, grew slowly, and until the age of five his fontanel did not heal. The Countess was worried about her boy and blamed herself first of all for his illnesses: after all, her husband was her cousin, and children in related marriages are often born unhealthy. When her second son, Richard, born two and a half years after Henri, died at just over eleven months old, Adele was finally convinced that her marriage was a mistake. And it’s not just the children’s illnesses - the pious woman gave her husband a lot, but over time they family life began to be filled with misunderstanding, bitterness and disunity. For a long time, Adele tried to put up with the count’s rudeness and betrayals, with his quirks and whims, but in August 1868 there was a final break - she stopped considering Alphonse her husband. In a letter to her sister, she said that she now intended to treat him only as a cousin. However, they still portrayed spouses and were polite to each other in public - after all, they had a son, and in addition, it was necessary to observe the rules of decency accepted in society. But from then on, all her attention, all her love was given to Henri.
Count Alphonse loved aristocratic entertainment - hunting, horse riding, racing - and passed on to his son a love of horses and dogs.
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The count was also interested in art and often came with his little son to the studio of his friend, the artist Rene Princesteau, with whom Henri soon became friends. Prensto was not only an animal painter, he was a dexterous horseman, a lover of hound hunting and racing.
With great knowledge of the matter, he painted horses, dogs, hunting scenes, and from under his brush came real portraits of animals - he could convey their character, habits, grace. Soon the younger Lautrec began to come alone to his father’s friend. He could spend hours admiring how Princeteau created his paintings, and then he himself took a pencil and on a sheet of paper tried to leave a clearly visible and bright trace of everything that caught his eye: dogs, horses, birds. He was good at it, and Princeteau couldn't help but admit that the boy definitely had talent.
In Paris, where the Lautrec family moved in 1872, Henri was assigned to the Lyceum. It grows very slowly; the smallest among his peers, receives the nickname “Baby”. The margins of his notebooks were filled with drawings much faster than the pages with letters and numbers.
Often missing classes due to constant illness, Henri nevertheless studied with honors. After several years of study, Countess Adele was rightfully proud of her boy - he not only drew breathtakingly, but was also recognized as one of the best students of his lyceum. She rejoiced at her son’s success, but was increasingly worried about his health: doctors suspected he had bone tuberculosis - Henri was already ten years old, and he was still very small. The wall, against which all the cousins in their estate noted their height in gradations and which Little Treasure tried to avoid, the servants called among themselves “ wailing wall».
At the end of May 1878, an unforeseen misfortune happened to Henri. He was sitting in the kitchen on a low chair, and when he tried to stand up, leaning awkwardly on his stick, without the help of which he no longer had the strength to move, he fell and broke the femoral neck of his left leg. And having barely recovered from a previous serious injury, a little over a year later, Henri stumbled while walking and broke the neck of his right hip... The parents, full of despair, did not lose hope for Henri’s recovery. But the boy did not allow tears, did not complain - on the contrary, he tried to cheer up those around him. The best and widely known doctors came to Henri, and he was taken to the most expensive resort places. Soon the disease dormant in his body made itself felt in full force. Some doctors classified Lautrec's disease as a group of polyepiphyseal dysplasias. According to others, the reason for Henri's short stature was osteopetrosis (painful thickening of the bone), which occurs in a mild form.
His limbs stopped growing completely, only his head and body became disproportionately huge in relation to his short legs and arms.
The figure on “childish legs” with “childish hands” looked very ridiculous. The charming child turned into a real freak. Henri tried to look in the mirror as little as possible - after all, apart from his large, searingly black eyes, there was nothing attractive left in his appearance. The nose became thick, the protruding lower lip hung over the sloping chin, and the hands of the short arms grew disproportionately huge. And the words that the deformed mouth uttered were distorted by a lisp, sounds jumped one after another, he swallowed syllables and, while talking, splashed with saliva. Such tongue-tiedness, coupled with the existing defect of the musculoskeletal system, did not at all contribute to the development of Henri’s spiritual harmony. Fearing the ridicule of others, Lautrec I learned to make fun of myself and my own ugly body, without waiting for others to start making fun and ridicule. This amazing and courageous man used this self-defense technique, and this technique worked. When people met Lautrec for the first time, they laughed not at him, but at his witticisms, and when they got to know Henri better, they certainly fell under his charm.
Lautrec understood that fate, having deprived him of health and external attractiveness, endowed him with extraordinary and original drawing abilities. But to become worthy artist, I had to study. The painter Leon Bonnat was then very famous in Paris, and Toulouse-Lautrec signed up for courses with him. Lautrec believes all the teacher’s comments and tries to destroy everything original in himself. Only in the first days did his classmates whisper sarcastically and laugh at the clumsy Henri - soon no one attached any importance to his ugliness. He was friendly, witty, cheerful, and incredibly talented. After Bonna dismissed all his students, he moved on to Cormon, who painted large canvases on prehistoric subjects. The students loved him, he was a good teacher. From Cormon, Lautrec learned the secrets of painting and graphics, but he did not like his condescension, he was merciless to himself.
Henri's mother completely shared her son's interests and admired him, but his father, Count Alphonse, did not at all like what the heir to the family was doing.
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Drawing, he believed, could be one of the hobbies of an aristocrat, but it should not become the main business of his life. The count demanded that his son sign the paintings with a pseudonym. Henri became more and more alien even to the family in which he grew up and was brought up; he called himself a “withered branch” of the family tree. Alphonse de Toulouse - Lautrec Monfat fully confirmed this by giving the birthright, which was to be inherited by his son, to his younger sister Alika. Henri began to sign paintings with an anagram of his last name - Treklo.
In the summer of 1882, on the way to the south, where the Countess was still taking her son for treatment, they stopped at their estate in Albi. There, Henri noted his height for the last time at the “Weeping Wall”: one meter and fifty-two centimeters. He was almost eighteen years old - an age when most young men cannot think about anything other than the opposite sex. In this, Lautrec differed little from his peers - in addition to an ugly body, ruthless Nature endowed him with a gentle, sensitive soul and a powerful masculine temperament. He first fell in love as a child - with his cousin Jeanne d'Armagnac. Henri lay with a broken leg and waited for the girl to come to visit him. As he grew older, Lautrec learned the sensual side of love. His first woman was Marie Charlet - a young, thin, youthful model, completely innocent in appearance and depraved in her soul. She was brought to Henri by a friend from the workshop, the Norman Charles - Edouard Lucas, who believed that Lautrec would be cured of his painful complexes when he knew a woman. Marie came to the artist several times, finding the connection with him piquant. But Henri soon refused her services - this “animal passion” was too far from his ideas about love. However, the relationship with the young model showed how strong his temperament was, and memories of sensual pleasures did not allow Lautrec, as before, to spend lonely evenings at work. Realizing that a worthy girl from a decent society was unlikely to reciprocate his feelings, he went to Montmartre - to prostitutes, cafe singers and dancers. Among his new hobby - street life in Montmartre, Henri did not feel like a cripple; life opened up to him from a new side.
Montmartre in the mid-1880s... All of Paris flocked here for entertainment. The halls of cafes and restaurants, cabarets and theaters were quickly filled with a motley audience and the holiday began... Here their kings and queens, their rulers of thoughts, ruled. Among them, the first place was occupied by the coupletist Bruan, the owner of the restaurant " Elise – Montmartre" The recognized queen of Montmartre in those days was La Goulue - “The Glutton” - that’s how sixteen-year-old Alsatian Louise Weber was nicknamed for her crazy passion for food.
He sat down at a table, ordered a drink, and then took out his sketchbook with pencils and, constantly watching the frantic dance of the Alsatian, he drew, trying to catch every movement of her body, every change in the expression of her face. Her fresh, wrinkle-free skin, shiny eyes, sharp nose, her legs, which she threw high in the dance, foaming the lace of her skirts, the shamelessness with which she twirled her butt, expressing with her whole being a voluptuous outburst of passion - Henri captured all this in his drawings. Next to La Goulue was her indispensable partner Valentin, whom the public nicknamed Boneless. The movements of this couple were so erotic and desirable that they could not help but turn on the audience, and every performance of La Goulue and Valentin Beskostny was accompanied by wild applause.
In 1884, Henri came from Paris to visit his “poor holy mother,” as the artist called her. After a few weeks, which he spent with his parents, Lautrec returned to the capital completely happy - his father agreed to give him money to buy his own workshop in Montmartre. He is a full-fledged inhabitant of Paris. For Lautrec Montmartre became a hospitable home, and its inhabitants - Montmartre actresses and singers, dancers, prostitutes and drunkards became his favorite young models, reinterpreted heroines of the bright, most impressive drawings, lithographs, posters, advertising posters and paintings. It was they, despised by society, who gave him the tenderness, affection and warmth that they so generously gave him and which he so voluptuously craved. Many of Lautrec’s works depict scenes in brothels, their inhabitants, for whom he, a hereditary aristocrat, felt sympathy and understood like no one else. After all, this “hunchbacked Don Juan,” like them, was an outcast.
In 1886, Lautrec met Van Gogh in Cormon's studio and painted his portrait in the manner of a new friend.
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A revolt against the teacher is brewing in the workshop. Lautrec joins his friends Anquetin, Bernard and Van Gogh. Now he defends his identity. He organizes an exhibition of his drawings at Mirliton, some of them illustrate Bruant’s songs. Vincent decides to organize an exhibition of friends in a working restaurant. However, ordinary people did not accept innovative painting. And in 1888, Lautrec received an invitation to take part in the G20 exhibition in Brussels. Among the group members are Signac, Whistler, Anquetin. Lautrec is present at the opening day. Defending Van Gogh, he challenges the artist de Groux, who insulted him, to a duel; the duel was averted. Critics took notice of Lautrec's work, noting his harsh drawing and wicked wit.
Gradually, Montmartre invents new things, never ceasing to surprise. New establishments are appearing. In 1889, Joseph Oller announced the opening of the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
On Boulevard Clichy the wings of the red cabaret mill began to spin. In the evenings, the noisy hall of the entertainment establishment, one wall of which was completely mirrored to create the illusion of space, was crowded - all of Paris gathered here to look at the brilliant Valentin and La Goulue, lured away by the director. Moulin Rouge" from "Elise". From that evening, Toulouse-Lautrec became a frequent visitor to this place. Everything that was so attractive and attractive in “Eliza” and “Moulin de la Galette” was now concentrated in Oller’s cabaret. Henri spent all his evenings at the Moulin Rouge, surrounded by his friends, drawing and constantly making wisecracks and jokes, so that someone who happened to enter the cabaret could assume that this wonderful freak was one of the local attractions.
Encouraged by his success, Lautrec painted twenty canvases a year. His constant themes are prostitutes, cabaret dancers, portraits of friends. He broke with naturalism, he was not able to embellish reality, in his grotesque and irony there is pain, awareness of the tragic side of life. In the large canvas "Dance in" Moulin Rouge"he writes the audience of the famous cabaret, his friends at the table, famous dancer Valentin Beskostny, performing in tandem with one of the square dance dancers. They said about the artist that he paints “the sorrow of laughter and the hell of fun.”
In January 1891, before the start of the new season, Oller ordered Toulouse-Lautrec a poster advertising the Moulin Rouge. Of course, it should feature the attention-grabbing cabaret stars - Valentin and La Goulue "in the midst of a sparkling quadrille."
The advertising posters, which came out at the end of September and were a great success, were posted all over Paris. Fiacres (hire carriages) with posters taped to them drove around the city. This poster is one of the classic works of French Post-Impressionism. In the center of the poster is La Goulue, depicted in profile and dancing in front of the audience. He glorified both the Moulin Rouge and, even more, the artist.
Montmartre occupied a special, and rather the most important, place in the life of Toulouse - Lautrec. Here he improves and draws subjects for his paintings, here he feels light and free, here he finds respect and love. The inhabitants of the salon simply adored their regular and showered him with their love. After La Goulue, the busty beauty Rose with bright red hair reigned in his heart, then there were other beauties - “little Henri” in Montmartre, no one could resist her love caresses. In Parisian dating houses he is always warmly and friendly received, here he feels calm, paints local models in an intimate setting, not intended for prying eyes: sleeping, half-dressed, changing clothes, at the toilet - with combs and basins, stockings and towels, cooking series of paintings and lithographs " They» (« Elles»).
For some time he even lived in brothels. He did not hide where his home was, and, as if proud of it, he easily gave his address and laughed when it shocked someone. On the Rue Moulin, Lautrec was especially inspired by the exclusive and sophisticated interior. Even quite respectable ladies, mostly foreigners, came here to admire the decoration of the rooms. And everyone in Paris was talking about the incredible beauty of the inhabitants of this “temple of love.”
The owner of the establishment, Madame Baron, made sure that Lautrec's workshop was comfortable, and then persuaded Toulouse-Lautrec to decorate the walls of the brothel with paintings he painted. Her charges, young and not so young, quenched his hunger for passion, and they did it with great willingness and tenderness, and yet “ no amount of money can buy this delicacy", he said. On Sundays, Monsieur Henri played a game of dice, and the winner had the honor of spending time with the artist. And when the wards of Madame Baron's temptresses of love had a weekend, Lautrec followed the tradition, which he himself had invented, of organizing evenings in the brothel, where the girls, dressed in transparent and very lightly woven clothes, waltzed in a noble manner with each other to the music of a mechanical piano. Observing the life of the brothel, Lautrec was amazed at how these weak and unfortunate creatures, caught in the trap of depravity and immoral corruption of everything and everyone, tried to maintain a tense mask on themselves.
In 1892, Lautrec exhibited nine paintings in Brussels with the Group of Twenty. He is appointed a member of the committee for hanging paintings at the Independents. The public calls his art shameless, artists see him as a successor to Degas. Lautrec often turned the superiority of his models into ugliness; he was never noble and condescending towards his models. In 1894, one of his main models was the then famous cafe singer Yvette Guilbert, who once called him a “genius of deformation.” He drew Yvette many times. The artist also depicted the singer on the lid of a ceramic tea table. He tries different techniques, including stained glass. Suddenly he becomes interested in racing cyclists and paints a large canvas "".
Yvette Guilbert simply captivated him. When Lautrec first saw Guilbert on stage, he wanted to write a poster for the singer and, having done so, sent her a drawing. Yvette knew that she had repulsive beauty, but she did not suffer from this at all, she was flirtatious and enjoyed good success with men and the public. Lautrec's poster somewhat discouraged her - she saw herself completely different, not so ugly, but Guilbert understood that the sketch was a tribute to the sympathy and respect of the extraordinary artist. She did not order a poster for Henri, although the artist himself, whom she had never seen before, only heard about him, interested her. “We will return to this topic, but, for God’s sake, don’t make me look so scary!” - she wrote to him. But Lautrec was not used to retreating so easily - he decided to release an album of lithographs dedicated to the singer. One day he paid her a visit - then Yvette saw him for the first time. His ugliness stunned her at first, but when she looked into his expressive black eyes, Guilbert was captivated. Yvette forever remembered that day: she invited him to have lunch together, they talked a lot, and soon she was completely under the power of Henri’s charm... This meeting was followed by others, he came to her and drew, drew... The sessions were stormy, the artist and his model often quarreled - it was as if he took fabulous pleasure in angering her.
Album « Yvette Guilbert"(sixteen lithographs) was published in 1894. The singer, and part-time Lautrec's model, reacted approvingly to him, but then her friends convinced her that she looked disgusting there and that the artist should be punished in court for humiliation of dignity and public insult.
However, numerous laudatory responses began to appear in the newspaper press, and Yvette had to come to terms with her merciless portrait painter. Perhaps now no one would remember that such a singer, Yvette Guilbert, sang in Montmartre in Paris at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, but history has preserved the memory of her thanks to him, a genius freak Henri Toulouse - Lautrec.
He also glorified the dancer Jeanne Avril, whom he met in the restaurant " Jardin de Paris" Unlike the quarrelsome, harsh La Goulue, Zhana was soft, feminine, and “intelligent.” This illegitimate daughter of a demi-monde and an Italian aristocrat suffered as a child from her mother, a rude, perverted and unbalanced woman who took out all her failures on her daughter. One day, unable to bear the humiliation and beatings, Zhana ran away from home. Music and dance became her consolation. She never sold herself and started affairs only with those who could awaken warm feelings in her. Zhana understood art, was distinguished by sophistication of manners, nobility and some kind of spirituality. According to Henri, she was “like a teacher.” In his drawings, Lautrec managed to convey her, as one of his friends put it, “the charm of depraved virginity.” Jeanne, who highly appreciated Lautrec's talent, willingly posed for the artist and sometimes happily played the role of hostess in his workshop.
Gradually, Toulouse-Lautrec's works were printed and sold throughout the country. The artist's works were exhibited at large exhibitions in France, Brussels and London. He became so famous that counterfeits of Lautrec began to appear on the markets, and this meant success.
But fame did not change the artist’s lifestyle in any way: he worked just as hard and had just as much fun, never missing costume balls, theater premieres, or parties with his Montmartre friends. Lautrec lived as if he was afraid of missing something, of not being able to get somewhere in this life - excitedly, feverishly, joyfully. "Life is wonderful!" was one of his favorite exclamations. And only close friends knew what bitterness was hidden behind these actions and words. He also drank - a lot, but only very good and expensive drinks. He was convinced that alcohol high quality cannot cause serious harm. Lautrec loved to mix different drinks, creating an extraordinary bouquet. He was the first in France to make cocktails and received incredible pleasure listening to the praise of his guests, who enthusiastically tried the new drinks. Whoever visited him then, and all his guests knew, Lautrec was supposed to drink. His fellow students in Cormon's workshop Anquetin and Bernard, and the young Van Gogh, who introduced him to Japanese art, and the insidious Valadon, an artist and model of Renoir, who seemed to be playing some kind of subtle game with Lautrec - she appeared in his life and then disappeared. ...
1888After some time, he no longer needed expensive gourmet liqueurs and cognacs - Lautrec learned to make do with simple, cheap wine from a nearby shop. He drank more and more, and worked less and less, and if earlier he made more than a hundred paintings a year, then in 1897 he painted only fifteen canvases. It seemed to friends that heavy drinking was destroying Lautrec as an artist. But he has not yet lost the ability to create masterpieces: these are portrait of Oscar Wilde, « Toilet», «».
Friends tried to distract him from his alcohol addiction, taking him to England, Holland, Spain, but he, having had his fill of old art, admiring the paintings of Bruegel and Cranach, Van Eyck and Memling, El Greco, Goya and Velazquez, returned home and resumed his former life. Henri became capricious, intolerant, and sometimes simply unbearable. Inexplicable outbursts of anger, stupid antics, unjustified violence... His already poor health was undermined by alcoholism and syphilis, which Red Rose “awarded” him a long time ago.
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Lautrec began to suffer from insomnia, as a result of which - against the backdrop of endless drunkenness - he developed frightening hallucinations and delusions of persecution. His behavior became increasingly inappropriate, and he was increasingly subject to bouts of insanity. In the summer of 1897, he shot at imaginary spiders with a revolver; in the fall of 1898, it seemed to him that police were chasing him on the street, and he hid from them with friends.
In 1899, “with a terrible attack of delirium tremens,” Lautrec’s mother admitted him to Dr. Semelen’s mental hospital in Neuilly. Coming out of there after several months of treatment, he tried his best to work, but something seemed to break in him.
In mid-April, Lautrec returned to Paris. The friends were shocked when they saw Henri. “How he has changed! - they said. “Only a shadow remains of him!” Lautrec barely moved, moving his legs with difficulty. It was clear that he was forcing himself to live. But sometimes it seemed that faith in the future regained hope in him. He was especially pleased with the news that several of his paintings were sold at auction in Drouot, and for a lot of money. Inspired by this event, Henri again felt a strong desire to draw. But - latest works as if it wasn’t his... In three months, Lautrec sorted out everything that had accumulated in his studio over the years of work, finished some canvases, put his signature on what seemed to him a success... Before leaving, he was going to spend that summer in Arashon and Tossa, places familiar to him from childhood, on the seashore - Henri brought perfect order to the workshop, as if he knew that he would not be destined to return there again.
At the Orleans station he was seen off by old friends. Both they and Lautrec himself understood that this was probably their last meeting.
The sea air could not heal Henri. The doctors reported that he had consumption, and in mid-August Lautrec suffered a stroke. He was losing weight, deaf, and had difficulty moving due to developing paralysis. Arriving at the seriously ill Lautrec, Countess Adele transported her son to the family castle in Malrome. In this mansion, surrounded by the care and love of his mother, Henri seemed to have returned to the vast world of childhood, joys, and hopes. He even tried to start drawing again, but his fingers no longer obeyed the call of his heart and could not hold the brush. Over time, paralysis shackled his entire unfortunate body; Lautrec could no longer even eat by himself. There was always someone at his bedside: friends, mother or old nanny. His father, Count Alphonse, also visited, but never recognized his son as an artist. When he entered the room, Henri 1901
Natural growing pains - “hopeless confusion in narcissism” - successfully developed in Toulouse-Lautrec into strong confidence in his success on the foundation of his talent as a draftsman. He was not afraid of any topic, any order, any size and any speed. Matisse's expression and kinematics of the body turned out to be the main arguments in the artist's paintings. The courage of genetic talents was confirmed by one after another artistic discoveries more and more new opportunities to shock the public, which was easier and more successful to organize by leading the public to a dead end and using vulgarities. The French made vice a delicacy. High society, who bought creativity, took the artistic riotousness of bohemia as the norm of playfulness, asserting status real life. Lautrec, on the other hand, expresses the organic freedom of pose, bringing its expressiveness to the point of shocking. The curtain fell. Life Henri de Toulouse – Lautrec – Monfat ended on the morning of September 9, 1901, at the age of thirty-seven, like Van Gogh. He was buried near Malrome in the cemetery of Saint André du Bois. Later, the Countess ordered the remains of her son to be transferred to Werdle.
Gradually, the works of Toulouse - Lautrec began to acquire largest museums world - Toulouse - Lautrec became a classic. Despite this, Count Alphonse still did not want to admit that his son was a talented artist. He wrote to Henri’s childhood friend, Maurice Juayan, who was working on creating a house - the Lautrec Museum in Albi: “Only because the artist is no longer alive, even if it is my son, I cannot admire his clumsy work.” And only in his suicide letter, in December 1912, the count admitted to Maurice: “You believed in his talent more than I did, and you turned out to be right...”.
Paintings by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec- these are prostitutes and actresses, cancan, jesters and dancers. The work of Toulouse Lautrec is the legacy of a true impressionist artist who painted life as it is.
If you can characterize paintings by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec in one word - that word will be “cabaret”. It is the artists, interiors, whores and cabaret regulars that are depicted a little less than in all the artist’s paintings.
You won't see angels fluttering around the Madonna here. Like most impressionists, Henri depicted reality without embellishment, focusing on individuality. Lautrec rather emphasized the peculiar features of nature than idealized it, like academic artists.
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Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, the artist's work.
Lautrec's work is distinguished by its brevity and deep psychologism. Henri was not particularly interested in the correctness of anatomical proportions, like academic artists, or color and light components, like other impressionists. He does not have the same color analysis as Monet. What is present in the paintings of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec is the character of the character, the mood, even a certain grotesqueness of the image. With precise, expressive strokes and lines, Lautrec wonderfully reflects a person’s character and emotional state. It is not for nothing that he is called a master of sketching and psychological portrait.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, paintings by the artist with titles, characters.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec's paintings depict characters who are no less interesting than the works themselves. For example, La Goulue (glutton) is a famous dancer of the Moulin Rouge cabaret, who used to drink from the glasses of visitors and treat herself at their expense. “Queen of Montmartre” - that’s what they called her. She ended her life no less tragically than Toulouse Lautrec. Alcohol broke her; at the end of her life, La Goulue lived in poverty, earning food and booze by selling matches and cigarettes.
Jane Avril, also a cancan dancer, is the complete opposite of La Goulle. A refined, melancholic nature, who, through the twists and turns of fate, ended up in a cabaret. An outcast among her colleagues, who called her "Crazy Jane." Avril became close friend artist and often posed for him in his studio.
Yvette Guilbert, an actress whose artsy, original image impressed Henri so much. Red Rose, a girl of easy virtue, is the same one who infected him with syphilis. Thousands of them.
Posters by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec.
Personally, I like Henri’s graphics even more than his paintings. Posters of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec They did very well what they were intended for - they advertised the glitz and vice of the Parisian demimonde, alcohol, vice and the cancan. It was the posters that brought the artist the desired fame. Despite the fact that Henri painted more than dozens of posters, it is quite difficult to find them on the Internet, because particularly “smart” individuals confuse them with the graphics of another famous artist - Jules Cheret (a real poster monster, by the way, also a very interesting artist).
