Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: We Are Ugly, but Life Is Beautiful

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on 24 November 1864 in Albi, France, and dreamed of becoming a doctor or surgeon, but his illness meant that fate led him to become a painter instead. Art became sacred to him and embodied the very foundation of his being. Here you will learn how his disability marked his entire life, and how it shaped his work, his choice of subjects, and the way he portrayed them.

The painter in 1894, photo Wikimedia Commons

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born into the family of Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec and his first cousin, Countess Adèle Tapié de Céleyran. The family was wealthy and lived on estates in the south of France. To safeguard their fortunes and avoid dividing them, marriages often took place between close relatives, which in turn affected the health of their children. Henri suffered from a hereditary bone disease, and after two accidents in which he broke his legs at the age of thirteen, they never grew any longer. It was during the long periods he had to spend lying in bed that he began to draw and paint. At the time, it seemed like nothing more than an enjoyable pastime.

"Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec in His Carriage at Nice", 1880, photo Wikimedia Commons

Naturally, his earliest oil paintings depict the family estates, hunts, horses with carriages, riders and hounds. Even in these early works, one can already see characteristic moments captured, a spontaneous sense of action. Perhaps he hoped that these paintings would impress his father, who expected his son to become a rider, a hunter, or a soldier. At the same time, however, Henri was convinced that in order to achieve anything, he would have to become independent of his father's expectations and of his ailing mother. Although this was not easy for him, suffering constant pain and leaning on a cane, he set off for Paris, where he began studying in Fernand Cormon's studio, shoulder to shoulder with Vincent van Gogh and Émile Bernard. The three friends immersed themselves in the bohemian life of the capital, wandering the streets and painting by day, and seeking out prostitutes and absinthe bars by night.

Neither tall, nor handsome

In the pleasure district of Montmartre, amid all its other curiosities and entertainments, Lautrec attracted less attention, rents were lower, and there was no shortage of subjects he liked. He was drawn to the superficial and brutal reality of Montmartre — especially its bars, cabarets, and brothels. He often visited the very places he painted. He liked to lose himself in distraction, so as not to be alone and dwell too much on his condition. And so, in his paintings too, it is an endless party.

"At the Moulin Rouge", 1892, photo Wikimedia Commons

From the very beginning of his career, Lautrec strove to be authentic, neither embellishing nor exaggerating. His technique and his understanding of art stood in complete contrast to what was valued in the Paris Salons of the time. He depicted places and situations that had until then been considered unworthy of art. In the painting "At the Moulin Rouge", little Lautrec can be seen in the background with his tall cousin, while restaurant guests sit closer to the table, talking and enjoying themselves. At the same time, Lautrec looks upon the scene from the side, as if passing through the edge of the room like a stranger and an observer. Lautrec liked to visit bars with his cousin, the two of them forming an amusing pair. Yet he was never merely an observer — he drew the dancers and the guests incessantly.

"Ugliness always has a charming side; how wonderful it is to discover it where no one else has noticed it." — Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

We are ugly, but life is beautiful

The cabaret actress and singer Yvette Guilbert was at first shocked when she saw how Lautrec saw and painted her, but his art later won her over, and it was he who made her immortal. Lautrec conveyed what mattered most, without dwelling on decorative details as other painters who portrayed her had done. His portraits of Guilbert are memorable, and the moments he chose to immortalize were selected with originality — such as her bow on stage after a performance, seen below. His swift, precise line both abstracts the subject portrayed and, at the same time, renders it more concrete.

"Yvette Guilbert Taking a Curtain Call", 1894, photo Wikimedia Commons

"For God's sake, don't make me look so repulsively hideous! Everyone who saw them could not hold back cries of horror." — Yvette Guilbert on Henri's works

"At the Moulin Rouge, Two Women Waltzing", 1892, photo Wikimedia Commons

Lautrec was deeply interested in love between women. In the work above, two dancing women are painted with great sensitivity, conveying the intimacy of the moment. Similar undertones appear in a series of pastels created at the end of the 19th century, yet Lautrec depicts these intimate moments without any hint of fetishism — in his work, this is never a titillating spectacle for the male gaze. He seeks, with sensitivity and humanity, to reveal the everyday lives of these women, to expose the hidden lives of women in the 19th century.

"In Bed, The Kiss", 1892–1893, photo Wikimedia Commons

Self-irony as self-defense

The artist's self-caricature, 1894, photo Wikimedia Commons

Lautrec had a distinctive face — a broad forehead, a large nose, and a weak chin. Self-irony became his self-defense.

"Oh, how I would love to find a woman whose lover is uglier than me!" he is said to have remarked.

Self-destruction

Although Henri's health had already been undermined by his disability, the last years of his life were pure self-destruction. His physical troubles led to psychological ones. What is more, he contracted syphilis from one of his models, a prostitute. Seeking to numb both his spiritual and physical pain, he drank more and more. He became arrogant, aggressive, and often suffered hallucinations. At the age of thirty-six, he drank himself to death on a cocktail of his own invention, called the Earthquake — one part absinthe, one part cognac. Yet he kept painting almost until his final days. During his lifetime, his works mostly provoked outrage and went unappreciated, with many believing that the subjects he depicted disgraced the Toulouse-Lautrec name. Nevertheless, his portrayal of contemporary subjects and his drive to reveal the essence of those he depicted have earned him a place among the most eminent painters of the 19th century.