Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | |
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![]() Toulouse-Lautrec in 1894 | |
Born | Henry Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa 24 November 1864 |
Died | 9 September 1901 | (aged 36)
Resting place | Cimetière de Verdelais |
Known for | Painting, printmaking, drawing, draughting, illustration |
Notable work | At the Moulin Rouge Le Lit La Toilette |
Movement | Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau |
Signature | |
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Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (French: [tuluz lotʁɛk]), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the sometimes decadent affairs of those times.
Born into the aristocracy, Toulouse-Lautrec broke both his legs around the time of his adolescence and, possibly due to the rare condition pycnodysostosis, was very short as an adult due to his undersized legs. In addition to alcoholism, he developed an affinity for brothels and prostitutes that directed the subject matter for many of his works, which record details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris. He is among the painters described as being Post-Impressionists, with Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat also commonly considered as belonging in this loose group.
In a 2005 auction at Christie's auction house, La Blanchisseuse, Toulouse-Lautrec's early painting of a young laundress, sold for US$22.4 million, setting a new record for the artist for a price at auction.[1]