Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

One of the leading Post-Impressionist painters, Toulouse-Lautrec was born at Albi, the son of Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec. He began painting in the late 1870s, moving to Paris in 1882 where he became a pupil of the academic painters Bonnat and Cormon. Under the influence especially of Degas and Van Gogh he broke with official art and set up his own studio in 1884.

He specialised in portraits and began his studies of life in Montmartre in 1885, exhibiting in 1889 at the Salon des Indépendants. His paintings and poster designs connected with the Moulin Rouge were produced from 1892, at the time when his scenes of the brothels of the area were also painted. By 1899 his health deteriorated and he retired in 1901 to the Château de Malromé, where he died.