Lautrec portraits of girls from Moulin Rouge. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec: paintings by the artist

“What is Montmartre? Nothing. What should it be? Everyone!”
Rodolphe Saly, owner of the Cha Noir cabaret

"Attention! Here comes the whore. But don't think that this is some random girl. First class product! — broke at the entrance Aristide Bruant, famous pop singer and owner of the newly opened Mirliton cabaret. Henri, he was only 24 years old, watched with admiration Bruant and the bohemians who crowded here every evening.

"Elise-Montmartre". 1888. Photo: Public Domain

"Thank you. I had a wonderful evening. Finally, for the first time in my life, they called me an old brat to my face,” one of the avid visitors, a division general, spoke about “Mirliton.” A sign soon appeared above the entrance: “Those who like to be insulted come here.” By ten o'clock in the evening it was impossible to get inside - the cabaret was overcrowded. Parties took place every day, the noise did not subside until two in the morning.

This building used to house a cabaret. Rodolphe Saly, one of the most famous figures of Montmartre. However, Sali decided to move to Laval Street, away from the poor idlers and outright thugs. Nevertheless, his updated Sha-Noir was still popular.

The Moulin de la Galette also drew full houses, where it was always dark and dirty, and on Mondays there was an almost obligatory stabbing. "Elise-Montmartre" is a more decent establishment, with professional dancers and a guard on duty in the back rows Commissioner of Police Cutla du Rocher. They called him “Daddy Chastity” here.

At first, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec loved Elise-Montmartre most of all, but when Mirliton opened in place of the pretentious, in his opinion, Cha Noir, the young artist became a regular there and soon became friends with Bruant.

“These idiots understand absolutely nothing about my songs,” Bruan told a friend. “They don’t know what poverty is, and from birth they are swimming in gold.” I take revenge on them by insulting them, and they laugh until they cry, thinking that I am joking. But in fact, I often think about the past, about the humiliations I experienced, about the dirt that I had to see. All this comes up in a lump in the throat and pours out on them in a stream of abuse.”

“Marcella Lander dancing a bolero at the Schilperic cabaret,” 1895. Photo: Public Domain

Toulouse-Lautrec also bathed in gold as a child. He came from a distinguished line of generals and commanders, but he also had reasons to hate the establishment. Bruant's Mirliton became his new home. “Quiet, gentlemen! The great artist Toulouse-Lautrec came with one of his friends and some pimp whom I don’t know,” Henri was loudly welcomed at Mirliton.

"Little Treasure" of Bosc Castle

Toulouse-Lautrec moved to Montmartre at the age of 19. He left behind his father, pious mother, aristocratic balls, incomplete higher education and luxurious family estates. At home, Henri was called “Little Treasure”, cherished and cherished.

He was the most active child in the family and could not imagine better activities than hunting and horse riding. In this sense, he completely coincided with his father - a fearless officer, famous not only for military, but also for romantic victories. Free time Count Alphonse devoted to drinking and eccentric antics. It didn’t cost him anything to go out for a walk in the armor of a medieval knight. Neighbors and his wife considered the count eccentric; Henri adored his father and looked up to him.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

At the same time, “Little Treasure” could not help but notice his mother’s worries. In my time Countess Adele I considered myself a real lucky woman, but now I was clearly tired of my husband’s infidelities. Formally, Henri’s parents separated when he was four years old, immediately after the death of their youngest son Richard. However, then the count returned home several times, and the countess was afraid to contradict him.

At the age of 14, Henri fell from a horse and broke his left femur. For the next 40 days, the teenager did not get out of bed, the bones fused with difficulty, and recovery lasted a year and a half. But as soon as Henri was able to lead an active lifestyle, he climbed onto the horse again and fell again, this time breaking his right hip.

After this, Henri did not grow a centimeter, and until his death his height was one and a half meters. What was much worse was that his body continued to develop, and over time, “Little Treasure” turned into a disproportionate monster with a huge head and short legs. Until the end of his days he walked with a cane.

For the mother this became a tragedy, but for the father it brought only disappointment and irritation: why does he need a son with whom you can’t even shoot a partridge? Count Alphonse believed that his first-born son had been taken away from him and no longer perceived Henri as his son. Then everyone believed that Henri was just a weak and awkward teenager; at that time they did not know about hereditary osteogenesis and genetic diseases of children of close relatives. Henri's parents were cousins.

The mother continued to love and support her son, but she knew that for the snobs from the aristocratic circle, Henri would become an object of ridicule. The daring of fierce battles and ornate ballroom steps are valued here.

Henri himself understood what was happening, although he tried not to show it. He himself was the most ironic about his ugliness - a preemptive strike, because one way or another someone else would make a cruel joke. He loved to go hunting with his father, and he realized that now only painting was left in his life.

Having passed his matriculation exams and successfully studied in several art workshops, by the age of 19, young Toulouse-Lautrec realized that the time had come to start his own life.

The wicked charm of Montmartre

Lautrec settled with friends - Rene And Lily Grenier at rue Fontaine, 19 bis. Lily was very popular, loved by artists, musicians and entrepreneurs. Henri also fell in love with her, although he had the tact to restrain himself. Lily most likely had no idea about this, and they became close friends.

"In the salon on the Rue de Moulins." 1894. Photo: Public Domain

In Grenier's company, Lautrec was the ringleader; he willingly participated in all the entertainment that Lily came up with. Henri was known as a master of small talk and invariably impressed the assembled guests. Together with his friends, Henri often went to the cabaret, where he also became the life of the party. Lautrec also became a regular at the brothel on Steinkerk Street.

Lautrec no longer had any illusions - he didn’t want to go to the dance floor. Every evening, Henri ordered glass after glass and drew everyone he met - on napkins, scraps of paper, charcoal, and pencil. Literally everything was used. Drawing intoxicated the young man no less than wine. “I can drink without fear, because, alas, I can’t fall very far!” - he joked.

The attentive eye of the artist noticed at first glance all the features of the “target”; Henri could express them with a single line. He painted drunken poets and hopeless prostitutes, famous journalists and writers, representatives of the world and the demi-monde. Lautrec painted everyone indiscriminately - he was interested in personality, he depicted character, not appearance.

"Worthless." 1891. Photo: Public Domain

In brothels, Lautrec met people who no longer had anything to hide or lose. For him, who grew up among snobs, the scammers, pimps and prostitutes in the smoky halls of the Elise-Montmartre, Moulin de la Galette and Mirliton were a breath of clean air.

Mirliton, meanwhile, flourished. Bruant earned 50 thousand francs a year (about €3.5 million in today's money). The whole of Montmartre gathered here, and street prostitutes hid during street raids. On Fridays, parties were held here for a sophisticated audience - entrance cost 12 times more.

"Glutton" from "Moulin Rouge"

In October 1889, Montmartre was buzzing - extravagant businessman Joseph Oller announced that the Moulin Rouge will open on the site of the Rennes Blanche, which was demolished four years ago. All the revelers of Paris came to the opening, including Prince Trubetskoy And Comte de La Rochefoucauld. Toulouse-Lautrec couldn’t pass by either.

One of the walls of the huge hall was mirrored. The room was brightly illuminated by ramps and chandeliers, and glass balls hung everywhere. The girls on stage danced a square dance, and the already famous La Goulue, nicknamed “The Glutton,” became the prima dancer at the Moulin Rouge.

She was 23 years old, she had already conquered Montparnasse and became the main star of the Moulin de la Galette. The girl appeared to the public as an arrogant and arrogant woman who had tried almost everything in life. At the end of the performance, she did not bow, silently turned around and, swaying her hips in a black skirt five meters wide, went backstage. La Goulue knew that hundreds of men's eyes were eagerly following her delicious legs. “Would you like to treat the lady?” - this is how every conversation she had began when she went down to the hall.

Among La Goulue's admirers was Lautrec. The Moulin Rouge contained everything he loved, and from the very first evening Henri became a regular guest here. He would start the evening at the Mirliton, then stop by the bar on the way to Cha Noir, and finally end the evening at the Moulin Rouge. He did not forget about the brothels, which he visited with the diligence of a good schoolboy.

“La Goulue with two friends at the Moulin Rouge,” 1892. Photo: Public Domain

Joseph Oller had heard a lot about the famous artist. He sought to make the Moulin Rouge even more famous and for this he wanted to hang bright and unusual posters around the city. The advertising poster for the opening of the Moulin Rouge was drawn by a recognized master Jules Cheret, but the 55-year-old master depicted a cabaret with fluttering Pierrots and angels. Oller needed something brighter and more vicious.

Lautrec agreed to Oller's proposal instantly. In the center of his first poster was La Goulue. Using minimal expressive means, the artist was able to convey all the notes of the desired image - a smoky room, a crowd of onlookers whose gazes are turned to La Goulue, her always distant expression and flirtatious, provocative poses.

Henri felt that he could realize himself as an artist in advertising. Yes, compared to the paintings of the Impressionists, their deep analysis of light and shadow, deep feelings and fleeting sensations, cabaret posters are a low genre. But there were no rules here, and Lautrec could paint as he saw fit.

The La Goulue posters hung all over the Boulevard Clichy worked; the Moulin Rouge was sold out every evening. The style chosen by Lautrec was perfect. He depicted simple images, subtly noticing the psychology of the individual in them. On his posters, people became understandable and easily readable characters. Henri's posters were sincere and truthful - they depicted exactly what awaited the visitor outside the cabaret doors.

“Moulin Rouge, La Goulue” 1891. Photo: Public Domain

Oller did not have time to count the profits; La Goulue became the face and soul of Moulin Rouge. Cabaret, in turn, took a central place in the nightlife of Montmartre, which became the only place in Paris that was worth going there in the 19th century.

Lautrec was also doing well. His large-scale paintings were exhibited among activists of the Brussels G20, they were highly appreciated Edgar Degas. The artist often went to the theater, where, together with the Grenier spouses, he threw shoes at the actors if they, in their opinion, played poorly. Lautrec spent several weeks on the yacht Cocorico in the Gulf of Arcachon. Henri lived frivolously and did not deny himself anything. People found out about the artist; it was an undoubted success.

A complex freak with a disproportionate body, he always trusted the opinions of others more than his own. That is why he was happy to hear praise from his teachers, that is why he wanted to exhibit with the Impressionists, and that is why he was glad to become a famous artist - to realize himself in the only field available to him.

In total, Lautrec created more than three hundred posters for the Moulin Rouge. Among the public, he was no less famous than La Goulue herself, and this could not help but flatter Henri, whom his own father had once abandoned.

Aristocrat's Curse

Lautrec did not forget about his illness for a second and believed that its cause was his own awkwardness. He did not mince his words and was sometimes known as a cynic among the public. However, those close to him understood that behind his tough and impudent nature was hiding a frightened child, a “Little Treasure.”

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Portrait by Giovanni Boldini. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

He hated his father and often drew caricatures of him. At the same time, Henri loved his mother, but tried not to catch her eye, so as not to remind her of his ugliness.

Walking in the evenings, Lautrec could shout to the whole street that that girl over there would give herself to him for a couple of francs. However, friends - primarily Lily Grenier - knew that he was afraid of ridicule, and rudeness was a defensive reaction. Although the artist was constantly surrounded by friends, drinking buddies and prostitutes, deep down he remained lonely and tried with all his might to displace dark thoughts with alcohol.

In February 1899, after another attack of delirium tremens, Lautrec was sent to a psychiatric clinic for two months. Henri's health was already undermined by syphilis - he became infected from the red-haired Rose, a regular visitor to the Elise-Montmartre.

After treatment, Lautrec went to the Atlantic coast and in April 1901 returned to Paris, emaciated and completely weakened. Alcohol flowed like a river through the streets of Montmartre, and the artist was not going to ignore these turbulent currents.

An unhealthy lifestyle continued to undermine Lautrec. Two months later, his body could not stand it anymore, and he left Paris again. A stroke that occurred in August paralyzed half of his body. Henri gave up and asked his mother to take him to her castle near Bordeaux. In this castle, in the arms of his mother, he died on September 9. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was 36 years old.

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 disability left its mark on the artist’s future life. 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 engraving had a great influence on the formation of his creative style.

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 of Fine Arts, Boston; “La Goulue Entering the Moulin Rouge” , 1891-1892, Museum of Modern 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 primarily a master of psychological portraiture and a 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; "Désiré Diau (Reading a newspaper in the garden)", 1890 - both in the Toulouse Museum -Lautrec, Albie; “Portrait of Madame de Gortzikoff, 1893, private collection). In order for all the viewer’s attention to be concentrated on the inner world of his model, he makes her external features less sharp, blurry, uses an abstract background, and in later paintings - landscape or some everyday objects and furnishings that reveal the true essence of their 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 became lighter, and a sophisticated combination of several colors, mainly green and purple, would become the hallmark of 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

The year 1864 went down in history as the year the First International was created in London. The labor movement was raising its head, the Danish War was going on in Europe and the Civil War in the United States. In France, Le Chapelier's Law prohibiting strikes and workers' coalitions, adopted by the Constituent Assembly of France in June 1791, was repealed.

In such turbulent times, Count Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec de Montfat was born - the future great artist who became famous far beyond the borders of his country.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec had the good fortune to be born into a family belonging to the oldest family in France. This is a count family that descends from the Viscounts of Lautrec. In the XIV-XVII centuries. the head of this family bore the title of Viscount Monfat. At the end of the 17th century. Lautrec-Monfat changed their surname to Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Toulouse-Lautrec family was distinguished by its education and special reverence for art. Perhaps this circumstance helped Henri survive the terrible tragedy that happened to him in childhood and determine his future. Thanks to this choice, this article appeared.

In May 1878, at the age of 13, Henri breaks the femoral neck of his right leg. A year later, the boy breaks his left leg when he falls into a ditch. After this event, his legs stopped growing, and the young man remained disabled forever. - “Just think! I would never have started painting if my legs were a little longer.” – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec joked more than once.

A physical defect prevented young Henri from entering military service, as was customary among the men of his family. It was then that he decided to become an artist. He draws a lot, and his talent is growing so rapidly that the skill of his former teacher, Master Prensto, was no longer enough. Henri moves to Paris in anticipation of creative growth. Here he ends up with the then famous portrait painter Leon Bonna. Henri signs his first works with the pseudonym “Treklo”.

This is how he ends up in Montmartre. And Montmartre completely captures him. From this moment on, Henri becomes part of Montmartre, and Montmartre becomes part of Henri. Here Count Toulouse-Lautrec moves from high society to the world of bohemia, and it was in this world, communicating with people who create art, that he developed his own unique style, where line is important, and grotesque decorativeness does not hurt the eye, but, on the contrary, gently combines with subtlety and grace of images. One has only to look at the portraits created by the master to feel the psychologism and uniqueness of Lautrec’s controversial style. At first he imitates the then fashionable Impressionists, but then he finds his own way. The momentary impression is no longer enough for him. He is looking for ways to make his works deeper, to show the very essence of the world he depicts, be it nature or man. That is why the seemingly excessively decorative works of Toulouse-Lautrec again and again attract our gaze, forcing us to look into the very soul of his characters.

Most likely, this is why the artist tries to paint unsleek high-society beauties and handsome men. He is attracted to simple, and even sometimes vicious people, with a broken destiny. In them the artist finds a reflection of the living world, beautiful in its uniqueness.

He paints dancers and prostitutes, cooks and laundresses. They are feminine and lively, without a shadow of falsehood or artificial gloss. And so beautiful.

At the same time, Toulouse-Lautrec wrote posters for the cabaret “Moulin Rouge”, “Black Cat” and “Divan Japonet” and other nightlife establishments in Paris. In total, he wrote about thirty posters, each of which is a real masterpiece. The artist, who knew the spirit of Parisian nightlife very well, in his posters conveys the momentary feeling of a carefree holiday, and at the same time, they sense the atmosphere of subtle flirtation and light intrigue characteristic of such establishments. But as a master of post-impressionism, he knew how to do this perfectly. That is why the posters created by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec are now perceived by us with the same interest and admiration as his portraits and other paintings.

It’s only in the last two years of his life, as if anticipating the end of the fun, that the artist increasingly uses dark tones in his works. With each picture, the feeling of sadness grows, the anticipation of saying goodbye to the world that he loved so much. In the spring of 1901, Henri suffered paralysis of his legs as a result of a stroke. And on September 9, at the age of 37, he dies.

And only many years after his death did he receive recognition from critics who did not favor him at all during his lifetime. During his short creative life, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 paintings, 275 watercolors, 363 engravings and posters, 5084 drawings, several ceramics and stained glass.

The online magazine "Area of Culture" held a vote for the best design of a theater poster for Veliky Novgorod among those published in the OK magazine. The poster for the play “The Little Prince”, which took place today, April 29, at the Novgorod Regional Philharmonic, received the most votes. The author of the poster is Ksenia Inozemtseva. Congratulations!

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfat (November 24, 1864, Albi - September 9, 1901, Malromet Castle, Gironde) - French post-impressionist artist from the count family of Toulouse-Lautrec, master of graphics and advertising posters.

Biography of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864 into an aristocratic family. The first years of the artist’s life were spent on the family estate in the city of Albi. His parents, Count Alphonse Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfat and Countess Adèle Tapier de Seleyrand, separated shortly after the death of their youngest son Richard in 1868. After his parents' divorce, Henri lived on the Cháteau du Bosc estate and on the Cháteau du Céleyran estate near Narbonne, where he studied horse riding, Latin and Greek. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Toulouse-Lautrec moved to Paris - a city that would change his life, become an inspiration and greatly influence the artist’s work.

Throughout his life, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was close to his mother, who became the main person in his life, especially after tragic incidents that undermined the artist’s health. His father was known in society as an eccentric person; he often changed his place of residence, which caused Henri’s education to suffer.

Toulouse-Lautrec said about his father: “If you met my father, then be sure that you will have to remain in the shadows.” However, it was thanks to his father, who loved entertainment, that Henri was introduced to the annual fair and circus from an early age. Subsequently, the theme of the circus and entertainment venues became the main one in the artist’s work.

The works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

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).

For his contemporaries, A. de Toulouse-Lautrec was primarily a master of psychological portraiture and a creator of theater posters.

All 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”, ca. 1893, Cleveland Museum of Art ), in the second she is presented in a familiar environment, reflecting her daily activities, profession or habits

A. de Toulouse-Lautrec made a great contribution to the development of the poster genre; his work was highly appreciated by his contemporaries.

5 interesting facts from the biography of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

1. Noble origin

The artist, who lived and painted the inhabitants of Montmartre brothels for months, was simply “Monsieur Henri” for them. They did not know that he came from the ancient and noble count family of Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfat, whose history stretched back for many centuries.

Henri was the only child in the family and was supposed to continue the family. “Little treasure” - that’s what his relatives called him, prophesying a noble future for him.

2. Physical defect

A cruel fate intervened in the glorious story of little Prince Henri. At the age of 13, while unsuccessfully rising from a chair, he broke the femoral neck of his left leg, and a little more than a year later, the teenager, falling into a ditch, suffered a fracture of his right leg.

The bones did not want to heal properly, which led to the most terrible consequences for the young man. His legs stopped growing, remaining about 70 centimeters long throughout the artist’s life, while his body continued to develop.

By the age of 20, he had turned into a dwarf and a freak: a disproportionately large head and body, attached to the thin and frail legs of a child. His height did not exceed 150 centimeters.

We must pay tribute to how courageously the young man endured his illness, compensating for it with his amazing sense of humor, self-irony and education.

3. Family disappointment

Henri's family had a hard time coming to terms with their son's illness: the defect deprived him of the opportunity to attend balls, go hunting, and engage in military affairs. For a representative of an ancient aristocratic family, this was extremely important. Moreover, physical unattractiveness reduced the chances of finding a mate and continuing the family line. Henri’s father, Count Alphonse Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec, lost all interest in him.

Henri received support and warmth from his mother, who remained close to the artist throughout his life. But she did not influence the fate of her son as much as Count Alphonse: back in 1868, the boy’s parents separated after the death of their first-born Richard. Thus, all hopes were pinned on Henri, but he could not fulfill them.

At the age of 18, not wanting to meet his father’s disappointed glances and trying to prove to him that his life was not over, Henri went to Paris. Throughout his subsequent life, relations with his father were strained: Count Alphonse did not want his son to dishonor the family by putting his signature on the paintings.

4. From early impressionism to Montmartre

The direction in which Henri de Toulez-Lautrec worked is known in art as post-impressionism, and it also gave roots to modernism, or art nouveau. However, the artist came to this style gradually. Young Henri's first teacher in 1878 was an acquaintance of his father, the artist Rene Princeteau, deaf from birth, a specialist in depicting horses and hunting scenes. Every day the young man’s skill improved, but the depiction of scenes of glorious aristocratic life disgusted him.

At first, he painted in an impressionistic manner: he was admired by Edgar Degas and Paul Cezanne. In addition, Japanese prints served as a source of inspiration.

In 1882, after moving to Paris, Lautrec visited the studios of academic painters Bonn and Cormon for several years, but the classical precision of their paintings was alien to him.

But in 1885, he settled in Montmartre, which was then still a semi-rural suburb with windmills, around which the famous cabarets, including the Moulin Rouge, would open a little later. The family was horrified by their son’s decision to settle and open his own studio in the very center of the area, which was then just beginning to gain fame as a haven for bohemia.

It was Montmartre that became the main inspiration in the life of young Lautrec and opened up new creative sides in him, which became features of his signature style. Moreover, he became one of the pioneers of the art of lithography, or printed poster, in which his flamboyant decorative style could be applied in the best possible light.

And in 1888 and 1890, Lautrec took part in exhibitions of the Brussels "Group of Twenty", an active association of new art, and received the highest reviews from the idol of his youth - Edgar Degas himself.

5. A wild lifestyle: two sides of the coin

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is often portrayed as a perverted dwarf who did nothing but drink and visit brothels, which led him to a psychiatric hospital and death from alcoholism and syphilis at the age of 37, lonely and miserable, in his family castle in the arms of his mother .

The great artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a writer of everyday life in Paris and a regular at the Moulin Rouge, made probably the strangest somersault in the history of painting: he preferred the life of a noble rich man to the existence of a bohemian outcast and alcoholic. Lautrec was one of the most cheerful singers of vice, since his inspiration always had only three main sources and three components: brothels, Paris at night and, of course, alcohol.

Lautrec grew up in a family of classic aristocratic degenerates: his ancestors participated in the Crusades, and his parents were cousins. Papa Lautrec was a complete alcoholic eccentric: at lunchtime he had the habit of going out in a blanket and a tutu. Henri himself was a very picturesque example of aristocratic degeneration. Due to a hereditary disease, the bones of his legs stopped growing after childhood injuries; as a result, Henri’s full torso was crowned with Lilliputian legs. His height barely exceeded 150 centimeters. His head was disproportionately large, and his lips were thick and turned out.

At the age of 18, Lautrec first experienced the taste of alcohol, the sensation of which he for some reason compared to “the taste of a peacock’s tail in the mouth.” Lautrec soon became a living mascot of the entertainment establishments of Paris. He practically lived in the brothels of Montmartre. Relationships between pimps and whores, drunken outrages of the rich, sexually transmitted diseases, the aging bodies of dancers, vulgar makeup - this is what fed the artist’s talent. Lautrec himself was no stranger: the young prostitute Marie Charlet once told Montmartre about the unprecedented size of the artist’s manhood, and Toulouse himself jokingly called himself “a coffee pot with a huge nose.” He drank the “coffee pot” all night long, then got up early and worked hard, after which he again began to wander around the taverns and drink cognac and absinthe.

Gradually, delirium tremens and syphilis took their toll: Lautrec painted less and less, and drank more and more, turning from a cheerful jester into an evil dwarf. As a result, by the age of 37 he was struck by paralysis, after which the artist died almost immediately - as befits an aristocrat, in his family castle. Drunken dad Lautrec put a tragicomic end to the dissolute life of the brilliant artist: considering that the carriage with the coffin in which Henri lay was moving too slowly, he spurred the horses, so that people were forced to skip after the coffin in order to keep up.

Genius against use

1882 - 1885 Henri comes from his native Albi to Paris and becomes an apprentice in a workshop, where he receives the nickname “liquor bottle”. From the letter: “Dear mother! Send a barrel of wine; According to my calculations, I will need one and a half barrels a year.”

1886 - 1892 Lautrec's parents provide him with maintenance, and he rents a studio and apartment in Montmartre. Next to the easel, Henri holds a battery of bottles: “I can drink without fear, I don’t have to fall too far!” He meets Van Gogh, paints the painting “The Hangover, or the Drunkard” under his influence.

1893 - 1896 Goes to Brussels for an exhibition, at the border he argues with customs officers for the right to bring a box of juniper vodka and Belgian beer to Paris. Usually he drinks himself to the point of disgrace: “Saliva flowed down the lace of his pince-nez and dripped onto his vest” (A. Perruchot. “The Life of Toulouse-Lautrec”). At a social reception he acts as a bartender, deciding to knock off high society, for which he prepares killer cocktails. He boasts that he served more than two thousand glasses during the night.

1897 - 1898 Drinks so much that he loses interest in drawing. Friends are trying to take him out on a boat because “he didn’t drink while at sea.” He falls in love with his relative Alina and thinks about quitting drunkenness. But Alina’s father forbids her to meet with Henri, and he goes on a drinking binge.

1899 After an attack of delirium tremens, the artist’s mother insisted that he go to a mental hospital. There he is given only water to drink. One day Lautrec discovers a bottle of dental elixir on the dressing table and drinks it. Trying to draw again.

1901 Leaves the clinic and returns to Paris in April 1901. At first he leads a sober lifestyle, but, seeing that his hand does not obey him, out of grief he begins to secretly drink. Lautrec's legs are taken away and he is transported to the castle. The father, bored at the bedside of the dying man, shoots flies on the blanket with a shoe eraser. "Old fool!" - Lautrec exclaims and dies. But his paintings are doing better and better: “The Laundress” was purchased in 2008 for $22.4 million. And his image lives on: the lorgnette Karla, the patron of the Parisian demimonde, continues to excite the minds of modern creators (see “Moulin Rouge” by Luhrmann).

Drinking buddies

LA GOULIE
The legendary Moulin Rouge dancer La Goulue (the Glutton) was nicknamed for her habit of sitting next to visitors, eating from their plates and drinking the leftovers from their glasses. Lautrec admired La Goulue and painted several portraits of her.

JULES RENARD
The writer Renard formulated a motto, later taken up by punks: “Exhaust yourself so that you can live quickly and die young.” One day, he and Toulouse drank a box of Burgundy on a dare, snacking only on gherkins.

PAUL GAUGIN
The great impressionist and drunkard loved to walk around Paris arm in arm with Lautrec: Gauguin was tall, and Lautrec was almost a dwarf. Both liked this picturesque tandem, and both were avid absinthe drinkers.

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