Paintings by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec with titles. Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, paintings and creativity, the glitz and poverty of Parisian nightlife

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa, Count Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa) - great French impressionist, post-impressionist artist. Born November 24, 1864 in Albi - died September 9, 1901 at Malromet Castle, Gironde.

Was born future artist in an aristocratic family. His parents were real counts. Very famous tragic story, which happened to the artist at the age of 13 and 14. When he was 13 years old, he accidentally broke the femur of his left leg while getting up from a chair; At the age of 14, after falling into a ditch, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec broke his right leg. After this, his legs stopped growing and remained only 70 centimeters long until the end of his life. Many who initially noticed this defect soon simply forgot about it. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was wonderful person, and always spoke about his shortcomings with a great sense of self-irony. After Henri left his native land in 1871 and moved to Paris, his life changed dramatically and forever.

In Paris he settled in Montmartre. This is where he lived his entire life. His favorite artists, from whose paintings he drew inspiration, were and other French post-impressionist artists. At the beginning of his career as an artist, he was engaged in lithography and creating posters. He often painted the street life of France and places of entertainment. His models were dancers, clowns, poets, theater actors, singers.

Still, the problem with his legs and his height of 152 cm could not give him real happiness in life. Despite his efforts, many people laughed at his shortcomings, romance novels ended in a break. Art critics often treated his paintings poorly. As a result of all this, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec led a riotous lifestyle, drank a lot and died of alcoholism before he was 37 years old. The glory of the great post-impressionist artist of France and world name came to him several years after his death.

Artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec paintings:

Reading room at Melroom Castle

Reading newspaper in the garden

Gypsy de Richepin

Girl in a corset

Jeanne Avril

Cabaret Japanese Sofa

Milliner

The beginning of the quadrille at the Moulin Rouge

Dance lessons at the Moulin Rouge

Portrait of the artist Emil Bernard

Next to his tall and slender parents, Henri looked almost like a dwarf, 150 centimeters tall with a large head and small body. The look, frankly speaking, is not aristocratic. But he was not just a hereditary aristocrat, with full right he could sign himself as a count, viscount, marquis, chevalier. But he almost never did this, and when meeting people he introduced himself simply as the artist Henri Toulouse. And the reason is not only physical disabilities, he got used to them, it’s just that his circle of friends turned out to be far from aristocratic - poor artists, variety show performers, regulars of small cafes, girls of easy virtue. It was easy for him with them, in this environment he belonged, these people accepted him for who he was. And the titles are for another life, which he deliberately abandoned.

True, he managed to get good home education, even art teachers invited him to professional artists. The mother spoiled her only child and indulged his whims, and he passionately loved to draw. But the countess and nightmare I couldn’t imagine that her Henri would become an artist and paint Parisian prostitutes and cabaret dancers.

Henri was a passionate person. He even learned to paint in fits and starts; there were simply no worthy teachers for the young man, who began to develop his own original style early on. The famous artist Leon Bonnat, with whom he studied for some time, said to Henri: “You draw well, even elegantly, but your drawings are too frank and cruel.” And in fact, at that time there was nothing to compare his drawings with; no one had ever drawn like that.

Henri even preferred to study on his own, inquisitively trying to penetrate the secrets of the mastery of old painters. He himself was undoubtedly talented, and many in Montmartre, where he rented a workshop in 1884, understood this. But his works were not in demand for a long time. They were fresh and original, but they depicted people of the Parisian “bottom,” and the time had not yet come for hanging such paintings in secular living rooms.

It cannot be said that Henri was poor from lack of money, but he did not contribute much to his parents’ capital, and he was the heir to huge estates and castles, even during the period of heavy drinking. He quickly became one of the recognized masters of posters and posters. In fact, he raised this genre to the level of real mastery. So he had money, but it didn’t linger, fortunately, there were always drinking buddies nearby or people wanting to borrow a few francs that they wouldn’t have to pay back.

In Montmartre he was universally loved - invariably elegant, witty, the soul of the campaign. Even among women, despite his small stature and unprepossessing appearance, he was a success. It is worth noting that among his friends there were not only people of the Parisian “bottom”, cheerful girls and unrecognized geniuses of painting, but also famous artists and writers.

Even with his wild life, Henri managed to work hard. He rarely painted in oils. Many of his drawings are momentary, made right in the hall of a cabaret or restaurant, on a dance veranda or a night street with a pencil and even a burnt match on small sheets of paper or napkins. They didn’t pose for him; he himself had time to see and display on paper a characteristic gesture, facial expression, and pose. Then, in the studio, the drawing could be slightly corrected, colors added, and transferred to a sheet of good paper or canvas.

His drawings and paintings, which appeared at Parisian exhibitions, aroused constant interest. Soon recognition came; newspapers began to write about Toulouse-Lautrec, calling him a brilliant improvisational artist and innovator. People began to buy his works. Actually, Henri didn’t really care about money; what was important to him was the fact that his drawings and paintings were in demand.

Unfortunately, even the fame that came with him did not force him to change his lifestyle, give up his carousing and devote himself only to creativity. And chronic joint disease and alcohol destroyed an already not particularly strong body. The father practically abandoned his son, trying not to meet with him, but the mother continued to fight for him. She organized trips for him to resorts and to London, where he could break away from bad habits, but upon returning to Paris it all started again. At the insistence of his mother, he even spent almost 3 months in the spring of 1899 in a psychiatric hospital.

After the clinic, Henri did not return to Paris for a long time, preferring to live on the Atlantic coast. But new drinking buddies appeared there too, and work in an unusual environment clearly did not go well. In the spring of 1901, Toulouse-Lautrec returned to Paris, older, thinner and somehow quieter. Perhaps he felt that he would no longer be able to get out of the disease. Henri, to the surprise of his friends, began to put his financial affairs in order and complete old ones. unfinished paintings and almost stopped drinking. He painted several new paintings, but dark colors had already appeared in them.

One joyful event also happened. At the end of April he was informed that at an auction in Drouot several of his paintings had been bought for substantial sums. So, for the painting “Toilet” the buyer even paid four thousand francs.

In July, Henri left Paris forever. He again went to the Atlantic coast, but he was not destined to rest - his health worsened, consumption began, and then a stroke and partial paralysis followed. His mother moved him to the family castle of Malrome near Bordeaux. Surrounded by the best doctors and the care of his family, the artist slowly died.

At two hours and fifteen minutes on the morning of September 9, 1901, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec died. A thunderstorm rumbled over the castle; it seemed as if the sky itself was mourning the death of the unlucky but amazingly talented artist, who was only 36 years old.

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 get a brilliant art 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 human life. But this happiness was overshadowed by drama or even tragedy for Henri. Born with poor health, he was often sick, 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.

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. Princeto 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 illness 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 vertically challenged Henri had mild osteopetrosis (painful thickening of the bone).

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 spiritual harmony Henri. 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 a worthy artist, you 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 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.

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” family tree. Alphonse de Toulouse - Lautrec Monfat fully confirmed this, giving the right of primogeniture, which was supposed to be inherited by his son, to his younger sister Alike. 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's Henri in last time noted his height 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 the 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, sparkling 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.

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, the famous dancer Valentin Beskostny, performing a square dance together with one of the 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."

Advertising posters that came out at the end of September and had big success, were posted all over Paris. Fiacres (hire carriages) with posters taped to them drove around the city. This poster is one of classical works 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 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 this, 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 model of Lautrec, 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 the offender for humiliated 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 in Paris in Montmartre in late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, such a singer sang - Yvette Guilbert, 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 do something in this life - excitedly, feverishly, joyfully. "Life is Beautiful!" 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, 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...

After 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 1896

Friends tried to distract him from alcohol addiction, were taken 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 returned to his former self. 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.

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 - last 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 huge world childhood, joys, 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 the artistic discoveries that followed one after another of more and more new possibilities for shocking 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, accepted the artistic riotousness of bohemia as the norm of playfulness, affirming 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 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...”.

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 to the most ancient family 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 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 going to military service, as was customary among men in their 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 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's why it would seem unnecessary decorative works 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. Well-Knowing Spirit nightlife In his posters of Paris, the artist conveys a momentary feeling of a carefree holiday, and at the same time, they feel the atmosphere of subtle flirtation and light affair 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. In a short time creative life Henri Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 paintings, 275 watercolors, 363 prints and posters, 5084 drawings, several ceramics and stained glass.

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

Full name - Henri Marie Raymond comte de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa (1864-1901) - French post-impressionist painter. The "Great Dwarf", as he was called, had big influence on painting, bringing into it not the most unpleasant sides human life and subtly revealing the characters' personalities.

Toulouse-Lautrec was from noble family, which continued aristocratic traditions XII century in the vicinity of Toulouse. The child of Count Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfat and Countess Adele, née Tapier de Seleyrand (it is noteworthy that the artist’s mother and father were related to each other cousins and sister). The legend of Toulouse-Lautrec - evil fate or fate? His life is like a nightmare race towards death with breaks.

As a child, falling from a horse, the boy broke his legs: the consequences of the terrible injury remained forever. The limbs stopped growing. Toulouse-Lautrec turned into a dwarf. But outwardly he did not show that he was suffering. Jammed heartache self-irony, self-control, and later alcohol.

Passion to fine arts the young man learned it from his uncle Charles - essentially an amateur, but “with a gambling sparkle in his eyes” - and from their family friend Rene Princeteau, a professional brush artist and sculptor.

At the beginning of 1882, he moved to Paris with his mother and trained in the workshops of Leon Bonn and Fernand Cormon. The unsurpassed Van Gogh also belongs to the Cormon school. Lautrec was close friends with the Dutchman right before he moved to Arles. The formation of the Frenchman’s artistic style was significantly influenced by Japanese print, and a series of impressionists, and a habit of documenting everyday life. For example, in his early works a passion for horse riding is evident - the result of observing his father’s hunting and family pleasures on the estate.

But the noble amusements are replaced by Paris at night in all its licentiousness.
In January 1884 our main character opens a personal workshop in Montmartre - in a cheap area of ​​eccentric wanderers. Lautrec's parents were extremely dissatisfied with the choice of housing for their son and believed that he was disgracing the honor of the family. Moreover, thanks to his appearance Henri became known throughout the area, and there was no way to remain unnoticed.

Toulouse-Lautrec moved among talented craftsmen and at the same time made friends with local camellias, drunkards and generally strange individuals who unwittingly destroyed their destinies. The artist felt a certain spiritual kinship with them: perhaps because he experienced equal inferiority. Or perhaps he lived as brightly as they did: to the fullest, without pauses or stops. Every evening, while wasting time in dubious taverns and dating houses, he watched the girls selling themselves and saw what lay behind their unseemly activities. As a result of his spiritual quest, such of his paintings as “Dance at the Moulin Rouge”, “Elise-Montmartre”, etc. are released to the world.

Toulouse-Lautrec used to say: “A professional model always looks like a stuffed owl, but these girls are alive.”

Portraits of his authorship are conventionally divided into those in which the posing is located directly in front of the viewer (“The artist’s mother at breakfast”, 1882; “Woman in a black boa”, 1892) and those in which the model was caught by surprise doing her usual activities (“Woman at the toilet", 1889; "In bed" 1892; "Woman with a basin", 1896; "Woman combing her hair", 1896; "Woman looking in the mirror", 1896).

Critics of that era did not condemn Toulouse-Lautrec, but did not extol him either. Only advertising posters, covers for music works, and decorations for theatrical productions. Van Gogh's brother Theo was one of the first to acquire his paintings. But at the age of 25, the poster for the performances of the dancer Moulin Rouge La Goulue brought fame.

By the age of 30, Toulouse-Lautrec, alas, became a degenerate alcoholic, as it is unfortunate to mention in his biography. Friends tried to get him out by organizing trips to London; but returning to his familiar surroundings, the artist returned to the old ways. In 1899, his mother insisted that her son undergo treatment in a psychiatric hospital in central France.

After a rehabilitation course, he left for the Atlantic coast, again went into all serious troubles, then spent the winter of 1900-1901 in Bordeaux and returned to his beloved Paris in the spring to complete a series of unfinished paintings.

Having settled everything, he again went to his native Atlantic corner, where this time the exhausted isographer suffered a stroke that shackled half of his body. The man is taken on bail by his mother, Countess Adele, who lived in the nearby vicinity. There he died on September 9, 1901 at the age of 36.

During his short flash path, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec managed to create more than 6 hundred canvases, several hundred lithographs and thousands of sketches. At the same time, the genius of the brush did not consider himself a professional. Probably based on his father’s rejection of his work. The relatives considered their son a disgrace to the entire family tree. For history, he remained a phenomenon on a truly global scale. Psychologist and portrait painter rolled into one. Ruthless to reality and in love with truthfulness from any angle.