Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was French painter, printmaker, draughtsman and illustrator with enormous productivity - more than 1000 paintings, 5000 drawings, and 350 prints and posters. He suffered a debauchery and alcoholism and after mental and physical collapse died at the age of 37. His life has inspired numerous authors. His imaginary style is highly linear and gives huge accent to contour. He frequently applied the paint in long, thin brushstrokes which would often leave much of the board on which they are painted showing through. Many of his works may best be described as drawings in coloured paint.

Although exhibitions of his paintings were not well received in his lifetime, Toulouse-Lautrec is nowadays one of the world's most popular artists and is represented in most of the museums of Europe and the United States. He is sometimes classified as great Post-Impressionist along with Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin.