Fun Facts About Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

MISC:

- His real name was Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (1864–1901).

- He is one of the greatest impressionism painters.

- He was from an aristocratic family of Comtes.

- He fractured his legs at 14 and the breaks did not heal properly. As a result, his legs stopped growing, and as an adult he was only 1.22 m (4 ft 6 in) tall but had a normal adult-sized body.

- He also had hypertrophied genitals.

- His parents were first cousins, and the inbreeding in his family was probably the cause of his numerous health problems.

- He lived in Montmartre, an area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and for being the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers.

- He spent most of his time in bordels, where he often lived for weeks at a time.

- He shared the lives of the women who made him their confident, painting and drawing them at work and leisure.

- He recorded their intimate relationships, which were often lesbian.

- One of his favourite models was a red-haired prostitute called Rosa la Rouge from whom he contracted syphilis.

- He invented a cocktail called "Earthquake", made of absinthe and cognac.

- He was an alcoholic most of his life and was placed in a psychiatric hospital shortly before his death.

- He died from complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at 36.

WORK:

- His painting "La blanchisseuse" was sold for $22.4 million in 2005.

- In less than 20 years, he created 1012 paintings, 363 posters, 5,084 drawings, and others such as ceramic and stained glass work. Check out his work here.

- His style was influenced in part by classical Japanese woodprints which were popular in art circles in Paris.

- He was famous for capturing people in their working environment and capturing crowd scenes in which the figures are highly individualised.

- Many of his works may best be described as drawings in coloured paint.

- He recorded in his works many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris.

- He painted a lot for the magazine Le Rire.

- He painted for the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian nightclubs.

- His painting "La Goulue" reprensents the dancer Louise Weber, who created the "French Can-Can".

QUOTES:

"I have tried to do what is true and not ideal."

"I paint things as they are. I don't comment."

"Love is when the desire to be desired takes you so badly that you feel you could die of it."

"Of course one should not drink much, but often."

"I will drink milk when cows eat grape."