1864 -1901 · Albi, Paris and Montmartre

Dazzling posters, stage silhouettes and uncompromising looks make Toulouse-Lautrec the great graphic chronicler of the Belle Époque.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi in 1864 into an old aristocratic family. Two leg fractures during adolescence, aggravated by hereditary bone fragility, interrupted his growth and strengthened his commitment to drawing. Installed in Paris in 1882, he studied with Léon Bonnat then Fernand Cormon, where he met Vincent van Gogh in particular. Very quickly, the young painter preferred the café-concerts, theaters, circuses and cabarets of Montmartre to academic subjects. Very quickly, the young painter preferred Montmartre's café-concerts, theaters, circuses and cabarets to academic subjects. He became familiar with the Moulin-Rouge, the Mirliton and the Japanese Divan. He became familiar with the Moulin-Rouge, the Mirliton and the Japanese Divan. He became familiar with the Moulin-Rouge, the Mirliton and the Japanese Divan. Dancers, singers and actresses were not anonymous types for him: Jane Avril, Yvette Guilbert, May Belfort, May Milton or La Goulue each have an immediately recognizable posture, silhouette and stage presence. Japanese prints teach him flatness, emptiness and cut framing; Degas nourishes his plunging views and his attention to professional gestures. From the Moulin Rouge poster: La Goulue in 1891, Lautrec disrupts urban communication. A few colors, typography and an outline are enough to stop the passerby. Miss Églantine's Troupe transforms four dancers into collective rhythm without erasing their personalities. May Belfort, accompanied by her black cat, and Yvette Guilbert, recognizable by her long gloves, become real ones graphic signs. At the same time, Lautrec observes brothels with rare proximity. In the suite Elles, including Femme au tub, he describes rest, washing and waiting without mythology or spectacular voyeurism. Painter, designer, lithographer, poster designer and illustrator, he abolished the border between fine arts and printed images. Alcoholism and illness, however, exhausted his health. He died at the Malromé family estate in 1901, at the age of thirty-six, leaving an immense body of work which still gave a face to Paris around 1890. The "Henri Toulouse-Lautrec" selection, however, depleted his health. He died at the Malromé family estate in 1901, at the age of thirty-six, leaving an immense body of work which still gave a face to Paris around 1890. The "Henri Toulouse-Lautrec" selection, however, depleted his health. He died at the Malromé family estate in 1901, at the age of thirty-six, leaving an immense body of work which still gave a face to Paris around 1890. Alcoholism and illness, however, exhausted his health. He died at the Malromé family estate in 1901

Toulouse-Lautrec does not only draw a singer or a dancer: he finds the gesture, the accessory and the line which make his identity visible from the other side of the boulevard.