Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was born November 24th, 1864 in Albi, France. He was a Post- Impressionist artist, born to French aristocracy. He began drawing and painting at 10 years old, but at 12 when he broke his right leg, and 14 when he broke his left, they failed to heal properly, leaving him with dwarfed legs and nothing to do but art. He loved the bohemian underbelly of Paris and cast himself deeply into its vibrant nightlife. The famous Moulin Rouge commissioned him to paint posters advertising the place and since then, he had a permanent table open for him. He lived in the brothels, for weeks at a time, painting advertisements for them and the prostitutes amidst their private lives. His paintings of the girls showed incredible sympathy and passion toward them, either showing the dispassionately saddened women, or frivolous dancers and performers and kissers.
The favorite drink of the time, and Toulouse’s favorite drink, was absinthe. Absinthe contains wormwood and is poisonous if consumed in excess, which Henri did do. He lived a quite exciting life at the Moulin Rouge, resulting eventually in him contracting syphilis from a lovely red-haired prostitute named Rosa la Rouge. Due to the heavy drinking and complications added by his syphilis, Toulouse died at his family estate on September 9, 1901. His last words were reportedly “Old fool!”
During the night, when most of Toulouse’s paintings were begun, he would drink heavily and quickly sketch out what he saw in the brothels; the performances, dances, girls changing or bathing. Some of the prostitutes even paid him do paint their portraits or teach them how to paint, like in the case of Suzanne Valadon, who was Toulouse’s pupil and mistress. Most of his paintings were done on bits of card board or planks of wood. His paint strokes were long and thin, often leaving much of the surface behind exposed. This created a very unique look that has at times been described as drawing with colors, instead of painting. After sketching through the night, he would paint in vibrant colors the next day.
By the end of his life, he painted 737 canvases, 275 watercolors, 363 prints and posters (often adverts for brothels), a precious few sculptures, and finally 5,084 drawings. He had an art dealer named Maurice Joyant who would handle the sales of his more professional artwork. After Toulouse died his art dealer and mother not only continued to promote his artwork, but also contributed greatly to the opening of a museum in Albi to showcase his art. This museum is known as the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, and has the largest number of his artwork on display anywhere in the world. Recently, one of his paintings, the laundress, sold for a record of $22.4 million dollars.

Bibliography:

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/toulouse-lautrec/ accessed 9-20-13 http://www.toulouse-lautrec-foundation.org/biography.html accessed 9-20-13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec accessed 9-22-13