Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864 in Albi, France. He was the son of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse. His father was quite wealthy and good looking. Henri was a sick and weak child and his care preoccupied much of his mother's time. He broke both of his legs when he was a teenager. The bones in his legs did not fully develop after the breaks. The bones in the right and left legs grew at a different and slower rate. He was only 4 1/2 feet tall in adulthood. He began drawing and painting before the accidents which broke his legs. Because of his ill health , he had a lot of time to perfect his craft and art would become a central theme in his life. He stayed in the Montmartre section of Paris. The circus, dance halls, nightclubs, and racetracks became the subjects of his art. Henri spent time in the crowded meeting places, drinking and participating in the celebration, while creating rough sketches of the scene. Later, in his studio he would complete the work by adding paint and transforming those sketches into works of art. Printers would create lithographs from his art. His posters, displayed throughout Paris, became an advertising medium. As expected, spending a great deal of time in the dance halls and cabarets, he became a heavy drinker. By the 1890s his health deteriorated. In his thirties, he spent time in a sanatorium. Near the end of his life, he was in his mother's care at the family home in Malrome. He died on September 9, 1901. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is the most notable and greatest posterist of the Belle Epoque and perhaps, of all time. His paintings and posters, particularly those with the Moulin Rouge theme, are in great demand. They consistently bring high prices at auctions and private sales.

	MOULIN ROUGE (LA GOULUE) Code: ZL600001 Price: $7,500.00 Quantity in Basket: none Year/Style: 1896 Size: 8.5 X 11.5 Director: Actors: Genre: Poster Condition: Excellent From Les Affiches Illustrees (numbered edition of 1000 on vellum paper - 1896) This image sh (... more)