Post Impressionism and Toulouse Lautrec

Post Impressionism and Toulouse-Lautrec Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, France on November 24, 1864 to an aristocratic family. After breaking both his legs in separate accidents, it was discovered he had an inherited bone disease, and his legs never grew to their full potential. He enjoyed art, and in 1885, he began to exhibit and published his own work. Toulouse-Lautrec's work was exhibited throughout Paris and included exhibitions at the Salon des Independents in Paris and Les XX in Brussels, Belgium.

At the age of 36, he died of alcoholism and syphilis on Sept. 9, 1901. The nightlife in Paris impressed Toulouse-Lautrec and he incorporated this lifestyle into his paintings. He was also exposed to the controversial new style that was developing: it was called impressionism. Toulouse-Lautrec was similarly intrigued by edouard Manet's open-air paintings and the work of Edgar Degas, especially his depictions of dancers, horse races, and city life. Toulouse-Lautrec soon met Vincent van Gogh. They quickly became friends and even worked together occasionally.

They were influenced by many of the same ideas about art, and both had tempestuous inner lives that they longed to commit to canvas. The two painters nonetheless developed very different styles. The 1880's saw Toulouse-Lautrec auditioning a variety of styles. Many of his early paintings, including a portrait of his mother reading, are reminiscent of the impressionist paintings of the day. Another key influence of this time was Japanese art.

Toulouse-Lautrec adopted many of the elements of Japanese prints and they included decorative patterns, broad areas of color, tilted viewpoints, and a reliance on outline and silhouette. He utilized these artful concepts in his work, Cirque Fernando: The Equestrienne. It demonstrates a major shift from impressionism, as well as the suggestion of paintings by Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin (Discovery Biography, 2004). By 1888, however, Toulouse-Lautrec had developed his own spontaneous, brilliant colorful techniques and signature style. He employed a free style of brush stroke and favored long sweeping outlines.

His colors were usually bold and brilliant and included the colors of greens, oranges, and highlights of red. Sometimes he used color for emphasis, applying it with little regard to how it actually appeared in the scene he portrayed. This was an important innovation that influenced later artists. He had a fascination with the reality nightlife of Paris became the subject of many of his paintings. He worked to capture the lives of the prostitutes, dancers and circus performers of fin de siecle Paris.

This influence can be seen in the dynamic slant of space, the flat areas of color with no shadows or modeling, and the unusual way he cropped his scenes. These characteristics appear in the 1892 painting, At the Moulin Rouge (Friedman, 2004). He sometimes worked from photographs and often invited photographers into his studio. There, around 1889, Toulouse-Lautrec was captured painting one of his most famous works, La Dressage des nouvelles also, recognized as the Moulin Rouge.

Poster art was the rage during the early 1890's and Toulouse-Lautrec was captivated by the possibilities of the new era. He created posters to advertise entertainers at the cafes and art exhibitions and was probably the first "serious" painter to work in advertising. His efforts were influential on commercial, or printed, art for many years (U*X*L Biographies, 2004). The 1890's saw the height of his career. During this time, he produced hundreds of pieces.

He worked continuously around the clock visiting cafes for observation and cocktails each night, while also attending the theater and circuses. Occasionally Toulouse-Lautrec visited bordellos, where the prostitutes of the era plied their trade. He befriended and observed the women who lived and worked there and his work depicted the women's lives frankly and straightforwardly, with beautiful colors and inviting composition. The Salon in the Rue des Moulins, a view of a bordello, is considered one of his masterpieces.

This artwork is distinguished not only for its portrayal of brothel life but also for its compositional grandeur. Toulouse-Lautrec was somewhat hesitant to exhibit this painting, because he then would have to admit that he had to create the painting with a live nude model, and his written comment to a journalist was simply, "People might think I wanted to create a scandal" (Life, 1992). Toulouse-Lautrec was typical of the Postimpressionism era. He sought to capture the real world and the reality surrounding real people.

His rebellion against the idealized, carefully finished paintings of the prevailing academic style was typical of the time. Gone were the days of the artists capturing the morality or spiritual focus that was evident in earlier years. As time went on, Toulouse-Lautrec began to spend more time in the world of theaters and nightclubs. His works involved more colors and depicted the lives of people who experienced the "nightlife of Paris." Toulouse-Lautrec left behind in his art an exciting and colorful world, but one that is also shadowed with.