Famous French Painters and Paintings Best Guide Books Famous French Painters Famous French painters have been a dominant influence in art. Like other great artists they transform the way we look at life. Seeing out of our eyes into the world that is, was, and could be. Intimate peeks, often emotional and sometimes bizarre. What fun! I love art. Famous French paintings can be viewed in all of the fine art museums throughout France. Seeing art in person is a wonderful experience in France. Art is a big part of the culture of France . French culture gives your trip dimension. After all, France would not be France without its culture. Famous French Painters of the Baroque Era The Four Seasons: Autumn (The Spies with the Grapes of the Promised Land) by Poussin The most famous were: Aurore by Fragonard Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732 -1806) Depicted young woman outdoors in nature and the pre-revolutionary aristocracy enjoying the good life. Born in Grasse in the south of France which is famous for perfume manufacturing.

Neoclassism Le Bain Turc by Ingres With the French Revolution came the return to classic art of Rome but with sharper colors. Jacques-Louis David (1748 – 1825) The first famous painter of the neoclassic school. A supporter of the Revolution and depicted images of the revolution. The first famous neoclassic painting was his, “The Oath of Horatii”. Another of his paintings, Death of Marat, 1793 is the haunting image of Marat stabbed and dead in his bathtub. Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780 – 1867) Considered one of the greatest painters of the neoclassic school. His work shows his beautiful fascination with backs and necks. Romanticism The Raft of Medusa by Géricault Led by the French. Dramatic color, free gesture, exotic subject matter…the wild uncontrollable aspects of nature. Théodore Géricault (1791 – 1824) The leader of the movement and teacher to Delacroix.

His painting, “The Raft of Medusa” is an important painting that displays in form and technique all that makes up Romanticism. You can view "the Raft of Medusa" at the Louvre Museum in Paris. It's one of their star attractions . Eugène Delacroix (1798 – 1863) Became the leader of the Romantic Movement after the death of Géricault and surpassed him in greatness. His work was highly influenced by the classical style. Impressionism Era Olympia by Manet Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883) Considered the father of modern art. A Realist, not an Impressionist but greatly influenced the Impressionists and exhibited with them. The famous French artists, writer Emile Zola, a friend and supporter of his work and the famous French poet Baudelaire, a close friend. You can view Manet paintings at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, as well as the other famous French painters listed here, from mid 19th century Romanticism to late 19th century Impressionist paintings.

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) Not an Impressionist, drawn to Classicism. Observed ballet classes at the Paris Opera House and attended performances. Ballet became the major subject of his work in the 1870s. A bit of a recluse. Impressionism Water Lily Pond by Monet Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919) Renoir paintings favored people enjoying happy times. Worked closely with Monet. Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) Considered the greatest of the Impressionists. You can visit his house and the garden where he painted in Giverny France, which is open to the public. Monet paintings and Monet pictures can be viewed at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Post-Impressionism Breton Girls Dancing by Gauguin Moving more towards the abstract, and adding emotion to the reality they depicted. Famous French painters considered geniuses: Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) You can visit Pont-Aven in Brittany France where Gauguin painted.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901) His most famous paintings are of prostitutes and dancers at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Nabis Aprés Le Repas by Vuillard French painters of this era were highly influenced by Gauguin, they depicted life at home using large-scale forms and beautiful color. Pierre Bonnard (1867 – 1947) 1000+ images about posters on Pinterest | Art nouveau poster, Shabby and Cupcake Toulouse-Lautrec+AU+Moulin+Rouge | Leonetto Cappiello Alphonse Mucha Henri de Toulouse Lautrec See More At the Moulin Rouge | The Art Institute of Chicago Possibly, Paris, Les XX, January 1892, as Nocturne [see Murray 1980]. Paris, Boussod et Valadon, 1893 [according to Toulouse-Lautrec 1991-92]. Paris, Le Barc de Boutteville, 7e Exposition des peintures impressionnists et symbolists, July 1894, cat.

84, as Un Coin du Moulin Rouge. Paris, Salon des Indépendants (March 29-May 5, 1902), not in catalogue [see Heller 1986]. Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Exposition Retrospective de l’Oeuvre de H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, June-July 1914, cat. 32. Paris, Galeries Paul Rosenberg, Exposition d’oeuvres de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1914, cat. 19. Barcelona, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Salon des Artistes Français, 1917, cat. 2038. The Arts Club of Chicago, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, December 1924-January 1925, cat. 7. Paris, Grand Palais, Trente ans d’Art Indépendant, 1926, cat. 3253. Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Cent Ans de Peinture Française, April-May 1928. New York, M.

Knoedler & Co., A Century of French Painting, 1928, cat. 34 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, December 23, 1930-January 18, 1931, cat. 19 (ill). New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tenth Loan Exhibition: Lautrec-Redon, February-March 1931, cat. 19 (ill.). Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, April-May 1931, cat. 92, pl. 5. The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 371, pl. 63. The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 325.

Toledo, Ohio, Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, November 1934, cat. 22. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Survey of French Painting, April-May 1936, cat. 33. Cleveland Museum of Art, Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition, June-October 1936, cat. 344, pl. 68. New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Toulouse-Lautrec, Paintings, Drawings, Posters, November-December 1937, cat. 11 (ill.). New York, Century Club, Post-Impressionist Painting, February-April 1949. Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, De David a Toulouse-Lautrec, Chefs d’Oeuvres des Collections Americaines, April-July 1955, cat. 54, pl. 84. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Toulouse-Lautrec (organized with the Albi Museum), October 29-December 11, 1955, cat.

38 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, January 2-February 15, 1956. New York, Museum of Modern Art, Toulouse-Lautrec, Paintings, Drawings, Posters and Lithographs, March 20-May 6, 1956, cat. 19 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, October 4-December 2, 1979, cat. 52. Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, , Light: The Industrial Age 1750-1900: Art and Science, Technology and Society, October 2000-February 2001, traveled to Pittsbugh, Carnegie Museum of Art, April-July 2001, no cat. no. (ill.), shown in Pittsburgh only. National Gallery, Washington, D.C., Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, March 20-June 12, 2005, cat. 66 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, July 16-October 10, 2005.

Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 62 (ill.). London, Courtauld Institute of Art, Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge, June 16- September 18, 2011. cat. 6. Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Splendour and Misery, Images of prostitution in France, 1850-1910 < Splendeurs & misères, Images de la prostitution, 1850-1910> September 21, 2015-June 19, 2016. Please note that Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge (1928.610) was not in Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, same exhibition but title " Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910, February 19, 2016-June 19, 2016.

Publication History A. Alexandre, Le Figaro Illustré 22 (April 1902), pl. 21, no. 145. G. Geffroy, “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 12 (1916), p. 100 (ill.). G. Coquiot, Lautrec (Paris, 1921), p. 109. Achille Astre, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (Nilsson, 1925), p. 75. H. E. Schnackenberg, “New York Exhibitions,” The Arts 7 (1925), p. 159 (ill.). Maurice Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Peintre (Paris, 1926), vol. I, pp. 137-138 (ill.), 275, vol. II, p. 7 (ill.), 247. Maurice Joyant, “Toulouse-Lautrec,” L’Art et les Artistes 14 (1927), pp.

159-160. Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report (1928), ill. François Fosca, Lautrec, Les Albums d’Art Druet (1928), p. 1, ill. Morton Dauwen Zabel, “An American Gallery of Modern Painting,” Art and Archaeology 26 (December 1928), p. 236, ill. Paul de Lapparent, Toulouse-Lautrec, Masters of Modern Art (New York, 1928), pp. 27-29, pl. 8. Art News 26 (June 16, 1928), pp. 1-2. “Visiting the Art Galleries,” Arts-Décorations 30 (November 1928), p. 67 (ill.). Daniel Catton Rich, “Au Moulin Rouge,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 23 (1929), pp. 13-15 (ill.). Art Work 17 (Spring 1929), p. 57, ill.

Bulletin de’Art Ancien et Moderne (1929), p. 176. Catalogue of The Birch Bartlett Collection (1929), pp. 36-37, ill. L’Art Vivant 6 (February 15, 1930) p. 157, ill. E. Tériade, “Jeunesse,” Cahiers d’Art 6 (1931), p. 21 (ill.). René Huyghe, “Aspects of Toulouse-Lautrec,” L’Amour de l’Art (April 1931), fig. 52. Robert Rey, “L’Exposition Toulouse-Lautrec,” Les Annales (April 15 1931), p. 377. J. J. Sweeny, “La Peinture Française Moderne a l’Institute des Beaux-Art de Chicago,” Cahiers d’Art 7 (1932), p. 336. Mac Orlan, Lautrec (1934), p. 180, ill.

Daniel Catton Rich, “A Note on Sharaku’s Influence in Modern Painting,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 29 (1935), pp. 5-6 (ill.). C. J. Bulliet, The Significant Moderns and Their Life (New York, 1936), pl. 122. Josephine H. Logan, Sanity in Art (Chicago, 1937), p. 110 (ill.). Parnassus 9 (November 1937), p. 39 (ill. only) Gerstle Mack, Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1938), pp. 133, 234, 258, pl. 15. Jacques Lassaigne, Toulouse-Lautrec (London and New York, 1939), p. 18, no. 87 (ill.). T. Squire, “Toulouse-Lautrec ‘Au Moulin Rouge,’” Theatre Arts Monthly 22 (June 1938), pp. 435-438 (ill.). H. F.

Mackenzie, “Toulouse-Lautrec and The Moulin Rouge,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 33 (1939), pp. 98-99 (ill.). J. Rinaldi, Toulouse-Lautrec (Buenos-Aires, 1942). R. Schoolman and C. E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America (Philadelphia, 1942), pl. 551 (ill.). The Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch Bartlett Collection (Chicago, 1946), pp. 46-47 (ill.). Fr. Jourdain, Lautrec (1948), pl. 17. Walter Kern, Lautrec (1948), pl. 17. Daniel Catton Rich, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec “Au Moulin Rouge” in The Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery Book 20 (London, 1949), ill. “Chicago Displays Lautrec Treasures,” Art Digest 23 (July 1, 1949), p. 10.

Life Magazine (1950), p. 248. Fr. Jourdain, Lautrec (1951), pl. 4 Art News 50 (June 1951), p. 20 (ill.). The Studio 41 (June 1951), p. 163 (ill.). American Artist 15 (November 1951), p. 57 (ill. only). B. Myers, “Symbolism,” American Artist 15 (November 1951), p. 57 (ill.). Fr. Jourdain and J. Adhémar, Lautrec (1952), p. 45. Design 53 (January 1952), p. 102 (ill. only). “Soirs de Paris,” Connaissance des Arts 8 (October 15, 1952), p. 39 (ill.) M. G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1952), p. 6, ill. Jacques Lassaigne, Le gout de notre temps–Lautrec (1953), p.

47, ill. Edouard Julian, Towards an Understanding of Toulouse-Lautrec (1953). Sam Hunter, Toulouse-Lautrec (1953), pl. 20. Pierre du Colombier, Toulouse-Lautrec (1953), pl. 20. “De David à Toulouse-Lautrec dans les Collections et Musées Americains,” Art et Style 34 (1955). Douglas Cooper, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1955), p. 97, ill. Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 49 (April 1955), p. 30, ill. Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 36, ill. P. Courthion, Le gout de notre temps–Montmartre (Lausanne, 1956), p. 63. Herbert Asmodi, Toulouse-Lautrec–Moulin-Rouge (1956), pl. 30. Paris Journal (1958), ill.

“Moulin Rouge,” Daily Mail (February 3, 1961), ill. Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1961), p. 454. Génies et Réalités, Toulouse-Lautrec (1962), pp. 94-95, ill. Frederick Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (September 1966), pp. 196-197 (ill. p. 195, fig. 18). The WFMT Guide (November 1966), ill. Rodolfo Palluchini, “L’Art Institute di Chicago,” L’Illustrazione del Medico 33 (February 1966), pp. 14-15, fig. 9. Otto Dekom, “Chicago: Monument of Volunteer Giving,” Evening Journal (Wilmington Delaware, August 1, 1968), p. 29, ill. William Gaunt, Impressionism, a visual history (New York and Washington, 1970) p. 260, ill. p. 261, pl.

261. John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), p. 96 and 287. M. G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre (New York, 1971), vol. II, p. 258-259 (ill.), peinture no. 427. Der berühmstesten Gemälde der Welt (Bergish-Gladbach, 1976), pp. 172-172, ill. Richard Thompson, Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1977), p. 68, ill. L’opera completa di Toulouse-Lautrec (Milan, 1977), p.106, no. 309, figs. 28-29. The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), pp. 118-119, no. 71. Gale B. Murray, “Review of M. G.

Dortu, ‘Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre,’” The Art Bulletin 60 (March 1978), p. 181. Charles Stuckey, Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, exh. cat.(Chicago, 1979), pp. 186-188, no. 52, ill. Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (New York, 1980) p. 290. Gale B. Murray, “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: a checklist of revised dates, 1878-1891,” Gazette des Beaux Arts 95 (February 1980), p. 90. Daniel and Eugenia S. Robbins, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: a selection of works from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1980), no. 3. Richard R. Brettell, “The Bartletts and the ‘Grand Jatte:’ Collecting Modern Painting in the 1920s,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12 (1986), pp.

103-113. Reinhold Heller, “Rediscovering Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s ‘At the Moulin Rouge,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12 (1986), pp. 115-135 (ill.). G. M. Sugana, Tout l’Oeuvre peint de Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1986), p. 417. Richard R. Brettell, Post-Impressionists (Chicago, 1987), p. 45, ill. Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 70. Dominique Jarrassé, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa: Entre le mythe et la modernité (Paris, 1991), pl. 42. Toulouse-Lautrec, exh. cat. (Hayward Gallery, London, 1991-1992), pp. 266-268 (ill.). James Hall, “Into the limelight: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,” Apollo (December 1991) p.

424, ill. Lesley Stevenson, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1991), pp. 58, ill., 73-74. Charles Stuckey, French Painting (New York, 1991), p. 193, ill. Patrick O’Connor, Nightlife of Paris: the art of Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1991). Guggenheim Museum: Thannhauser Collection (New York, 1992), n. p., ill. Connaissance des Arts, special number on Toulouse-Lautrec (1992), pp. 36-37, ill. Thomas Parsons, Post-impressionism: the rise of modern art (London, 1992), pp. 57, 72-73, ill. Gerard Durozoi, Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1992), pp. 94-95, ill. Gale B. Murray, Toulouse-Lautrec: A Retrospective (New York, 1992), pl. 70.

Frank Milner, Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1992), pp. 92-93, ill. George H. Hamilton, Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1880-1940 (New Haven, 1993), pp. 114-115, fig. 54. Duane Preble, Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts (New York, 1994), p. 40, fig. 564. H. W. Janson, History of Art (New York, 1994, 5th edition; 1997, revised ed.), p. 752, ill. Riva Castleman, Toulouse-Lautrec: posters and prints from the collection of Irene and Howard Stein (Atlanta, 1998), p. 92, ill. David Sweetman, Explosive acts: Toulouse-Lautrec, Oscar Wilde, Félix Féneon and the art & anarchy of the fin de siècle (New York, 1999), pp.

282-285 (ill.), 286, 351, 354-355, 357-358, 491. Helen Gardner, Art Through the Ages (Fort Worth, 2001, eleventh ed.), pp. 914-915, fig. 29-31. Michael Laclotte, ed., The art and spirit of Paris (New York, 2003), vol. II, pp. 1171-1172, fig, 7.87. Julia Frey, Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life (London, 1994). The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 62, pp. 132-33 (ill.). Nancy Ireson, “Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Capturing the Moment.” Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge, Exh. cat. (The Courtauld Gallery, 2011), p. 11, p.

72-72, cat. 6. Marilyn McCully, “Picasso’s Discovery of Paris,” Eating Fire: Picasso in Paris 1900-1907 Exh. cat (Van Gogh Museum and Museu Picasso, 2011), p. 25-26, fig. 4. Musée d'Orsay, Splendeurs & misères, Images de la prostitution, 1850-1910, publisher Flammarion, Paris (Septembre 2015). Cette exposition a étè organisée par le musée d'Orsay, Paris et le Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, front cover detail, [232] p.249: Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge (1928.610), [61] p.109:Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin de la Galette (1933.458), and [100] p. 138-139 Courbet, Mérè Grégoire (1930.78).

Ownership History Maurice Joyant, executor of the artist's estate and co-director of Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, by 1902 [according to Heller 1986]; sold to Manzi [according to Dortu 1971 and Heller 1986]. Jean Laroche, Paris, 1926. Paul Rosenberg [according to Dortu 1971]. Mssrs. Reid & Lefevre, London, June 1928. Frederick Clay Bartlett, Chicago; given to the Art Institute, 1928. Add this item to: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | French artist | Britannica.com Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Alternative Title: Henri-Marie-Raymonde de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Francisco Goya Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in full Henri-Marie-Raymonde de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (born Nov. 24, 1864, Albi , France —died Sept.

9, 1901, Malromé), French artist who observed and documented with great psychological insight the personalities and facets of Parisian nightlife and the French world of entertainment in the 1890s. His use of free-flowing, expressive line, often becoming pure arabesque, resulted in highly rhythmical compositions (e.g., In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888). The extreme simplification in outline and movement and the use of large colour areas make his posters some of his most powerful works. At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance, oil on canvas by Henri de … © Philadelphia Museum of Art/Corbis Childhood and education Toulouse-Lautrec’s family was wealthy and had a lineage that extended without interruption back to the time of Charlemagne. He grew up amid his family’s typically aristocratic love of sport and art . Most of the boy’s time was spent at the Château du Bosc, one of the family estates located near Albi. Henri’s grandfather, father, and uncle were all talented draftsmen, and thus it was hardly surprising that Henri began sketching at the age of 10.

His interest in art grew as a result of his being incapacitated in 1878 by an accident in which he broke his left thighbone . His right thighbone was fractured a little more than a year later in a second mishap. These accidents, requiring extensive periods of convalescence and often painful treatments, left his legs atrophied and made walking most difficult. As a result, Toulouse-Lautrec devoted ever greater periods to art in order to pass away the frequently lonely hours. Toulouse-Lautrec’s first visit to Paris occurred in 1872, when he enrolled in the Lycée Fontanes (now Lycée Condorcet). He gradually moved on to private tutors, and it was only after he had passed the baccalaureate examinations, in 1881, that he resolved to become an artist. His first professional teacher in painting was René Princeteau, a friend of the Lautrec family. Princeteau’s fame, such as it was, arose from his depiction of military and equestrian subjects, done in a 19th-century academic style.

Though Toulouse-Lautrec got on well with Princeteau, he moved on to the atelier of Léon Bonnat at the end of 1882. In Bonnat, Toulouse-Lautrec encountered an artist who fought vehemently against deviation from academic rules, condemned the slapdash approach of the Impressionists , and judged Toulouse-Lautrec’s drawing “atrocious.” His work received a more positive reaction in 1883, when he joined the studio of Fernand Cormon. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent In the early 1880s, Cormon enjoyed a moment of celebrity, and his studio attracted such artists as Vincent van Gogh and the Symbolist painter Émile Bernard . Cormon gave Toulouse-Lautrec much freedom in developing a personal style. That Cormon approved of his pupil’s work is proved by his choosing Toulouse-Lautrec to assist him in illustrating the definitive edition of the works of Victor Hugo . In the end, however, Toulouse-Lautrec’s drawings for this project were not used. Despite this approval, Toulouse-Lautrec found the atmosphere at Cormon’s studio increasingly restrictive.

“Cormon’s corrections are much kinder than Bonnat’s were,” he wrote his uncle Charles on Feb. 18, 1883. “He looks at everything you show him and encourages one steadily. It might surprise you, but I don’t like that so much. You see, the lashing of my former master pepped me up, and I didn’t spare myself.” The academic regimen of copying became insufferable. He made “a great effort to copy the model exactly,” one of his friends later recalled, “but in spite of himself he exaggerated certain details, sometimes the general character, so that he distorted without trying or even wanting to.” Soon Toulouse-Lautrec’s attendance at the studio became infrequent at best. He then rented his own studio in the Montmartre district of Paris and concerned himself, for the most part, with doing portraits of his friends. The documenter of Montmartre Art & Architecture: Fact or Fiction? Thus it was that in the mid-1880s Toulouse-Lautrec began his lifelong association with the bohemian life of Montmartre.

The cafés, cabarets, entertainers, and artists of this area of Paris fascinated him and led to his first taste of public recognition. He focused his attention on depicting popular entertainers such as Aristide Bruant, Jane Avril, Loie Fuller , May Belfort, May Milton, Valentin le Désossé, Louise Weber (known as La Goulue [“the Glutton”]), and clowns such as Cha-U-Kao and Chocolat. At the Moulin Rouge, oil on canvas by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893–95; in the Art … Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1928.610/Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago In 1884 Toulouse-Lautrec made the acquaintance of Bruant, a singer and composer who owned a cabaret called the Mirliton. Impressed by his work, Bruant asked him to prepare illustrations for his songs and offered the Mirliton as a place where Toulouse-Lautrec could exhibit his works.

By this means and through reproductions of his drawings in Bruant’s magazine Mirliton, he became known in Montmartre and started to receive commissions. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Toulouse-Lautrec sought to capture the effect of the movement of the figure through wholly original means. For example, his contemporary Edgar Degas (whose works, along with Japanese prints, were a principal influence on him) expressed movement by carefully rendering the anatomical structure of several closely grouped figures, attempting in this way to depict but one figure, caught at successive moments in time. Toulouse-Lautrec, on the other hand, employed freely handled line and colour that in themselves conveyed the idea of movement. Lines were no longer bound to what was anatomically correct; colours were intense and in their juxtapositions generated a pulsating rhythm; laws of perspective were violated in order to place figures in an active, unstable relationship with their surroundings. A common device of Toulouse-Lautrec was to compose the figures so that their legs were not visible.

Though this characteristic has been interpreted as the artist’s reaction to his own stunted, almost worthless legs, in fact the treatment eliminated specific movement, which could then be replaced by the essence of movement. The result was an art throbbing with life and energy, that in its formal abstraction and overall two-dimensionality presaged the turn to schools of Fauvism and Cubism in the first decade of the 20th century. The originality of Toulouse-Lautrec also emerged in his posters . Rejecting the notion of high art, done in the traditional medium of oil on canvas, Toulouse-Lautrec in 1891 did his first poster, Moulin Rouge—La Goulue. This poster won Toulouse-Lautrec increasing fame. “My poster is pasted today on the walls of Paris,” the artist proudly declared. It was one of more than 30 he would create in the 10 years before his death. Posters afforded Toulouse-Lautrec the possibility of a widespread impact for his art, no longer restricted by the limitations of easel painting.

They also enhanced the success he had enjoyed in the preceding year when his works were shown in Brussels at the Exposition des XX (the Twenty), an avant-garde association, and in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants . Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Toulouse-Lautrec is most important for his success in going beyond a representation of superficial reality to a profound insight into the psychological makeup of his subjects. He turned to the lithograph after 1892 as a medium well suited to this goal. Among more than 300 lithographs produced in the final decade of his life were an album of 11 prints titled Le Café Concert (1893); 16 lithographs of the entertainer Yvette Guilbert (1894); and a series of 22 illustrations for Jules Renard ’s Les Histoires naturelles (1899). But none of these works is more significant than Elles, a series done in 1896, presenting a sensitive portrayal of brothel life. Toulouse-Lautrec spent lengthy periods observing the actions and behaviour of prostitutes and their clients.

The resulting 11 works revealed these individuals as human beings, with some of the same strengths and many of the weaknesses of other members of society. A masterpiece of this genre is Au salon de la rue des Moulins ( At the Salon). This painting evokes sympathy from the spectator as he observes the women’s isolation and loneliness, qualities which the young Toulouse-Lautrec had so often experienced himself. At the Salon is a brilliant demonstration, therefore, of his stated desire to “depict the true and not the ideal,” in which truth is based not on a careful representation of detail but rather on capturing, in a few brief brushstrokes, the essential nature of a subject. Jane Avril, lithograph poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893; in the … SuperStock The appearance of Elles coincided with a growing deterioration in his physical and mental condition. Toulouse-Lautrec’s figure, even among the great human diversity found in Montmartre, remained unmistakable. His fully developed torso rested on dwarfish legs.

Not quite five feet one inch tall, his size seemed further diminished because of his practice of associating with unusually tall men, such as his fellow students Maxime Dethomas and Louis Anquetin and his cousin and close friend Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran. His frequently ironic tone failed to mask a fundamental dislike of his physical appearance, and his letters contain many derogatory remarks about his body and references to an increasing number of ailments, including syphilis . Drinking heavily in the late 1890s, when he reputedly helped popularize the cocktail, he suffered a mental collapse at the beginning of 1899. The immediate cause was the sudden, unexplained departure of his mother from Paris on January 3. He was always close to his family, particularly to his mother, who had always supported his ambitions; and he interpreted her leaving as a betrayal. The effect on his weakened system was severe, and he was committed shortly thereafter to a sanatorium in Neuilly-sur-Seine. This decision was made by the artist’s mother, against the advice of relatives and friends of the artist, in the hope of avoiding a scandal.

Trending Topics Opium Wars Toulouse-Lautrec remained formally committed until March 31, 1899, though he chose to stay on at the sanatorium until mid-May. While there he was able to demonstrate his lucidity and power of memory by preparing a number of works on the theme of the circus. These works, however, lack the force and intensity of his earlier compositions. In the spring of 1900 he started drinking heavily again. Less than three months before his 37th birthday, he died at Château de Malromé. Assessment Toulouse-Lautrec greatly influenced French art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries by his use of new kinds of subjects, his ability to capture the essence of an individual with economical means, and his stylistic innovations . Despite his deformity and the effects of alcoholism and mental collapse later in life, Toulouse-Lautrec helped set the course of avant-garde art well beyond his early and tragic death at the age of 36. Toulouse-Lautrec was not a profound intellectual .

Tapié de Céleyran wrote that he read little and when he did it was usually at night, because of insomnia. But he was a great satirist of pretense and convention. In typical fashion, he passed off his initial, unsuccessful attempt at the baccalaureate by having name cards printed “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, flunker of the arts.” This iconoclasm surfaced also when he parodied Pierre Puvis de Chavannes ’s serious Symbolist work The Sacred Grove by turning it into a boisterous scene filled with rowdy friends (1884). Yet he also could push himself in pursuits like swimming and boating, and toward the end of his life he installed a rowing machine in his studio. In his enthusiasm for sports he once accompanied a French bicycling team on a trip through England. Toulouse-Lautrec was, as two observers have concluded, a “sensitive, deeply affectionate man, conscious of his infirmity but wearing a mask of joviality and irony.” Although recognized today as a major figure in late 19th-century art, Toulouse-Lautrec’s status in his lifetime was disputed.

Indeed, the artist’s father, who took slight interest in his son after his disabling injuries, regarded his son’s work as only “rough sketches” and could never accept the idea of a member of the aristocracy betraying his class by turning from a “gentleman” artist to a professional one. Stung by such criticism and hampered by his infirmities, Toulouse-Lautrec persevered to emerge as a prolific artist whose work eventually helped shape the art of decades to come. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | Article about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec by The Free Dictionary Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | Article about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Medical , Acronyms , Wikipedia . Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de (äNrē` də to͞olo͞oz` lōtrĕk`), 1864–1901, French painter and lithographer, b. Albi. Son of a wealthy nobleman, Lautrec fell and broke both legs when he was a child.

His permanently stunted growth has traditionally been seen as the result of this accident, but more recently doctors have theorized that it may have been the result of a rare genetic abnormality. Showing an early gift for drawing, he studied with Bonnat Bonnat, Léon Joseph Florentin , 1833–c.1922, French portrait and historical painter. He is best known for his portraits of famous men, including Thiers, Victor Hugo, and Dumas fils. Bonnat is represented in the Metropolitan Museum. ..... Click the link for more information. and Cormon and set up a studio of his own when he was 21. As a youth he was attracted by sporting subjects and admired and was influenced by the work of Degas Degas, Edgar (Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas) , 1834–1917, French painter and sculptor, b. Paris; son of a banker. Although prepared for the law, he abandoned it for painting, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts with L. ..... Click the link for more information. .

His own work is, above all, graphic in nature, the paint never obscuring the strong, original draftsmanship. He detailed the music halls, circuses, brothels, and cabaret life of Paris with a remarkable objectivity born, perhaps, of his own isolation. His garish and artificial colors, the orange hair and electric green light of his striking posters, caught the atmosphere of the life they advertised. Lautrec's technical innovations in color lithography created a greater freedom and a new immediacy in poster design. His posters of the dancers and personalities at the Moulin Rouge cabaret are world renowned and have inspired countless imitations. After a life of enormous productivity (more than 1,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings, and 350 prints and posters), debauchery, and alcoholism, Lautrec suffered a mental and physical collapse and died at the age of 37. His life has inspired numerous biographies, of varying accuracy. Although exhibitions of his work were not well received in his lifetime, he is now one of the world's most popular artists and is represented in most of the major museums of France and the United States.

Many of his sketches and some paintings are in the Musée Lautrec of his native Albi. His painting At the Moulin de la Galette (1892) is in the Art Institute, Chicago; the lithograph Seated Female Clown (1896) is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bibliography See his correspondence, ed. by L. Goldschmidt and H. Schimmel (1969); complete lithographs and drypoints, ed. by J. Adémar (1965) and posters, intr. by E. Julien (1966); biographies by H. Perruchot (1960), P. Huisman (1964, repr. 1968), and J. B. Frey (1994); studies by D. Cooper (1969), F. Novotny (1969), J.-B. Naudin, G. Diego-Dortignac, and A. Daguin (1993), and D. Sweetman (2000).

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de (Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa). Born Nov. 24, 1864, in Albi; died Sept. 9, 1901, at Château de Malromé, near Bordeaux. French painter and graphic artist. Toulouse-Lautrec was descended from an ancient aristocratic family. Beginning in 1881 he lived mostly in Paris, where he studied with L. Bonnat in 1883 and with F. Cormon from 1884. He was influenced by the works of the Impressionists, especially those of E. Degas, as well as by Japanese prints. In his first important paintings, however, he strove for an extreme individualization of images. An example is the portrait of E. Bernard (1885, Täte Gallery, London). In the second half of the 1880’s, Toulouse-Lautrec turned to the subjects that were to constitute the central theme of his mature works: the daily life and amusements of Paris’ Bohemian world.

Estranged from his own world, he sought release from its stifling bourgeois conventions in the ephemeral gaiety of the cafés, dance halls, and other haunts of Montmartre. There, without moralizing, he depicted the Parisian demimonde, recording with keen observation and irony but also with great sensitivity the social and moral deformity of the life around him. In his paintings of the late 1880’s, Toulouse-Lautrec already evinced the characteristic elements of his style: an expressive and varied drawing, ranging from the sharp and almost grotesque to the elegantly supple; a restless, fragmented composition; long, rhythmic contours; quick, disjointed brushstrokes; and striking contrasts between a cold, almost metallic, overall tonal palette and local spots of vivid color. By means of these techniques he sought to delineate the nightlife of Montmartre and its denizens —the cabaret singers and dancers and their dissolute, pleasure-loving admirers, among whom the artist often painted himself.

By capturing the essence of the mise-en-scene, the telling poses and gestures of his figures, and the harsh, almost symbolic effects of artificial lighting, Toulouse-Lautrec succeeded in conveying with originality the moral depravity of fin-de-siècle Paris. Moreover, he brought to his task an unusual psychological insight that enabled him to apprehend his subjects’ desperate lives and the contemporary mores by which they were affected. These qualities of Toulouse-Lautrec’s art are evident in Gueule de bois (1888, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.); Au bal du Moulin de la Galette (1889, Art Institute of Chicago); At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance (1890, private collection, Philadelphia); A la mie, a gouache (1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston); At the Moulin Rouge (1892, Art Institute of Chicago); La Goulue Entering the Moulin Rouge (1892, D.

Levy Collection, New York); Jane Avril (1893, Niarchos Collection, Paris); Jane Avril at the Jardín de Paris (1893); Yvette Guilbert (1894, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow); Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran (1894, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi); Au Salon de la Rue des Moulins (1894–95, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi); Marcelle Lender Dancing in “Chilpéric” (1895–96, John Hay Whitney Collection, New York); and The Modiste (1900, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi). One of the outstanding masters of Postimpressionism, Toulouse-Lautrec in the 1890’s displayed in his stylistic experimentations an affinity with the exponents of art nouveau. The similarities are most evident in Toulouse-Lautrec’s graphic art, particularly the lithographic posters, with their spare style, fancifully convoluted drawing, and clear contours surrounding areas of intense color.

Examples are Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891), Le Divan japonais (1892), Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret (1892), and Aristide Bruant at the Ambassadeurs (1892). Toulouse-Lautrec’s series of lithographs and numerous drawings are distinguished by their vitality and imaginative, often grotesque caricature. Among the artist’s other works are Artilleryman Saddling His Horse (1879, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi), In the Circus Fernando: The Equestrienne (1888, Art Institute of Chicago), La Toilette (1896, Louvre, Paris), and the portrait Paul Leclerq (1897, Louvre, Paris). REFERENCES Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Malromé, France French painter The French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec depicted the Parisian night life of cafés, bars, and brothels (houses of prostitution, where sexual acts are traded for money)—the world that he inhabited at the height of his career.

Crippled childhood Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a direct descendant of an aristocratic family of a thousand years, was born on November 24, 1864, at Albi, France, to Alphonse-Charles and Adèle Zoë. His wild and colorful father lived in moderate luxury, hunting with falcons and collecting exotic weapons. Henri began to draw at an early age and found the arts an escape from his loving but over-protective family. In 1878 Toulouse-Lautrec suffered a fall and broke one femur (thigh bone). A year later he fell again and broke the other one. His legs did not heal properly. His torso developed normally, but his legs stopped growing and were permanently deformed. Many attribute his health problems to the fact that his parents were first cousins. In 1882, encouraged by his first teachers—the animal painters René Princeteau and John Lewis Brown—Toulouse-Lautrec decided to devote himself to painting, and that year he left for Paris . Enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts, he entered the studio of Fernand Cormon.

In 1884 Toulouse-Lautrec settled in Montmartre , an area in north Paris, where he stayed from then on, except for short visits to Spain , where he admired the works of El Greco (1541–1614) and Diego Velázquez (1599–1660). In England he visited celebrated writer Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) and painter James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). At one point Toulouse-Lautrec lived near painter Edgar Degas (1834–1917), whom he valued above all other contemporary artists (artists from his time) and by whom he was influenced. From 1887 his studio was on the rue Caulaincourt next to the Goupil printshop, where he could see examples of the Japanese prints of which he was so fond. By habit Toulouse-Lautrec stayed out most of the night. He frequented many entertainment spots in Montmartre, especially the Moulin Rouge cabaret (a nightclub with entertainment). He also drank a great deal.

His loose lifestyle caught up with him—he suffered a breakdown in 1899. His mother had him committed to an asylum, a hospital for the mentally ill, at Neuilly, France. He recovered and set to work again, but not for very long. He died on September 9, 1901, at the family estate at Malromé, France. The influence of Parisian nightlife Toulouse-Lautrec moved freely among the dancers, the prostitutes, the artists, and the intellectuals of Montmartre. From 1890 on his tall, lean cousin, Dr. Tapié de Celeyran, accompanied him, and the two, depicted in At the Moulin Rouge (1892), made a colorful pair. Despite his deformity, Toulouse-Lautrec was extremely social and readily made friends and inspired trust. He came to be regarded as one of the people of Montmartre, for he was an outsider like them, fiercely independent, but with a great ability to understand everything around him.

Among the painter's favorite subjects were the cabaret dancers Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril, and La Goulue and her partner, Valentin le Désossé, the contortionist (an acrobat who demonstrates extraordinary bodily positions). Through the seriousness of his intention, Toulouse-Lautrec depicted his subjects in a style bordering on, but rising above, caricature (exaggeration). He took subjects who often dressed in disguise and makeup as a way of life and stripped away all that was not essential, thus revealing each as an individual—but a prisoner of his own destiny. The two most direct influences on Toulouse-Lautrec's art were the Japanese print, as seen in his slanted angles and flattened forms, and Degas, from whom he derived the tilted perspective, cutting of figures, and use of a railing to separate the spectator from the painted scene, as in At the Moulin Rouge. But the genuine feel of a world of wickedness and the harsh, artificial colors used to create it were Toulouse-Lautrec's own. Unusual types performing in a grand show attracted Toulouse-Lautrec.

In his painting In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster (1888) the nearly grotesque (distorted and ugly), strangely cruel figure of the ringmaster is the center around which the horse and bareback rider must revolve. From 1892 to 1894 Toulouse-Lautrec produced a series of interiors of brothels, where he actually lived for a while and became the companion of the women. As with his paintings of cabarets, he caught the feel of the brothels and made no attempt to glamorize them. In the Salon in the Rue des Moulins (1894) the prostitutes are shown as ugly and bored beneath their makeup; the madam (woman in charge) sits quietly in their midst. He neither sensationalized nor drew a moral (having to do with right and wrong) lesson but presented a certain interpretation of this side of society for what it was—no more and no less. Color lithography and the poster Toulouse-Lautrec broadened the range of lithography (the process of printing on metal) by treating the tone more freely. His strokes became more summary (executed quickly) and the planes more unified.

Sometimes the ink was speckled on the surface to bring about a great textural richness. In his posters he combined flat images (again the influence of the Japanese print) with type. He realized that if the posters were to be successful their message had to make an immediate and forceful impact on the passerby. He designed them with that in mind. Toulouse-Lautrec's posters of the 1890s established him as the father of the modern large-scale poster. His best posters were those advertising the appearance of various performers at the Montmartre cabarets, such as the singer May Belfort, the female clown Cha-U-Kao, and Loïe Fuller of the Folies-Bergère. In an 1893 poster of dancer Jane Avril, colored partially in bright red and yellow, she is pictured kicking her leg. Below her, in gray tones so as not to detract attention, is the diagonally placed hand of the violinist playing his instrument. There is some indication of floorboards but no furniture or other figures. The legend reads simply "Jane Avril" in white letters and "Jardin de Paris" in black letters. For More Information Cooper, Douglas.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. London: Thames and Hudson, 1988. Frey, Julia. Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life. New York : Viking, 1994. Frey, Julia. Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life. New York: Viking, 1994. Heller, Reinhold. Toulouse-Lautrec: The Soul of Montmartre. New York: Prestel, 1997. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. MLA

Question: Which French artist, the son of a nobleman, was famous for his paintings and posters of the night life of the Moulin Rouge?
Answer: TOULOUSE-LAUTREC