Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

During his brief artistic career, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec captured the lively and often sordid atmosphere of Montmartre’s late 19th-century dance halls, cabarets, and theaters. Recording the performances he viewed and the establishments he visited on a nightly basis, he functioned as artist and narrator: his paintings, drawings, prints, and posters expose the complexities of the quickly changing age in which he lived. Between 1890 and 1900, Paris saw tremendous growth in its nightlife scene, with nearly 300 café-concerts serving women and men who drank, smoked, and fraternized in ways previously unpermitted to them in public. In such prominent clubs as the Moulin Rouge and less reputable institutions like the Moulin de la Galette, aristocrats often rubbed shoulders with the working class. It was within these establishments that Lautrec found the subjects he would voraciously document over the next decade.
Despite descending from three lines of aristocracy, Lautrec derived artistic inspiration from the people he lived among in Montmartre’s working-class neighborhood, including prostitutes, singers, and fellow artists. In La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge (1891–92), he depicts Louise Weber, a cancan dancer nicknamed, “The Glutton,” linking arms with two women at the Moulin Rouge. In her confident gaze, Lautrec captures the unabashed brazenness of female performers in modern café life. In other paintings, he portrayed tired prostitutes queuing for mandated health checks. Together, these works amount to a snapshot of the dramatically shifting gender and class relations in Paris at the turn of the century.
Lautrec chronicled his era largely through printmaking—something few other artists had attempted to do in this medium. From 1891 until his death in 1901, he produced nearly 350 lithographic posters, editioned portfolios, and illustrations for journals and theater programs recounting life in Belle Époque Paris. The rise of color lithography in 1891 ushered in a new form of printmaking, and Lautrec found great success in this medium. This process allowed him to print large posters in color, including Divan Japonais, and he soon began experimenting with fresh applications, among them crachis, a technique that creates a splatter effect. In a letter to his mother, he remarked, “I have just invented a new process that can bring me quite a bit of money. Only I have to do it all myself….My experiments are going awfully well.”1
Lautrec also created advertisements, many of which hung in Paris’s streets and public squares, promoting upcoming musical and dance performances. One of his preferred clubs was Le Mirliton. The venue’s owner, Aristide Bruant, commissioned the artist to produce a number of posters in 1893, including Aristide Bruant in His Cabaret (Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret) and Aristide Bruant. Lautrec’s first and most well-known poster—Moulin Rouge, La Goulue—depicts the animated dance hall in the Moulin Rouge. Spending many evenings at this famed establishment, the artist entertained a close relationship with the venue and its owners, who, at one point, hung his painting of a circus in the entry hall. This poster, one of more than 200 of his printed works in MoMA’s collection, epitomizes Lautrec’s representation of the places he visited and the company he kept during his daily life in 19th-century Montmartre.
Introduction by Emily Cushman, Collection Specialist, Department of Drawings and Prints, 2016
- Introduction
- Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), commonly known as just Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (UK: ON-ree də too-LOOZ loh-TREK, US: on-REE -, French: [ɑ̃ʁi də tuluz lotʁɛk]), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the modern, sometimes decadent, affairs of those times. Toulouse-Lautrec is among the best-known painters of the Post-Impressionist period, with Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. In a 2005 auction at Christie's auction house, La Blanchisseuse, his early painting of a young laundress, sold for US$22.4 million and set a new record for the artist for a price at auction.
- Wikidata
- Q82445
- Introduction
- Son of Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa and Countess Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa, née Adèle Tapié de Céleyran. During his short life, Toulouse-Lautrec produced a staggering volume of work – more than 5,000 drawings and some 370 lithographs. He died at the Château de Malromé near Langon. Comment on works: genre
- Nationalities
- French, Parisian
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Graphic Designer, Genre Artist, Painter
- Names
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Treclau, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Montfa, Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Monfa Lautrec Monfa, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse- Lautrec Monfa, Anri de Tuluz-Lotrek, Lo-te-lieh-kʻo, Heng-li Te Tu-lu-ssu Lo-te-lieh-kʻo, טולוז־לוטרק, Henri Marie Raymond De Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, Henri Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, De Lautrec, h. de toulouse-lautrec, H. de Toulouse Lautrev, henri de toulouse lauterec, henri toulouse-lautrec, Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henry Toulouse-Lautrec, h. toulouse lautrec, Lautrec, henri de toulouse lautrec, henri tolouse lautrec, henri toulouse lautrec, toulouse lautrec, Toulouse-Lautrec, lautrec toulouse, Toulouse Lautrec, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec
- Ulan
- 500029114
Exhibitions
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The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters
July 26, 2014–
March 22, 2015 MoMA
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Artist’s Choice: Trisha Donnelly
November 9, 2012–
July 28, 2013 MoMA
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The Printed Picture
October 17, 2008–
July 13, 2009 MoMA
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Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part One
January 26–
April 24, 2006 MoMA
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Painting & Sculpture II
November 20, 2004–
August 5, 2015 MoMA
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has 78 exhibitionsonline.
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mme Lili Grenier 1888
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Moulin Rouge, La Goulue 1891
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec At the Moulin Rouge, La Goulue and her Sister (Au Moulin Rouge, La Goulue et sa sœur) 1892
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge (1891-92)
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Queen of Joy (Reine de Joie) 1892
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec L'Anglais au Moulin Rouge (Englishman at the Moulin Rouge) 1892
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover for Old Stories (Les Vieilles Histoires) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Last Ballad (Ultime ballade) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Study of a Woman (Étude de femme) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec At the Moulin Rouge: Rugged! Really Rugged! (Au Moulin Rouge: Un Rude! Un vrai Rude!) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Folies Bergère: the Modesty of Monsieur Prudhomme (Folies Bergère: Les pudeurs de Monsieur Prudhomme) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec A Gala Evening at the Moulin Rouge (Une Redoute au Moulin Rouge) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Divan Japonais 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Jane Avril 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Aristide Bruant in His Cabaret (Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Jane Avril from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Yvette Guilbert from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Paula Brébion from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mary Hamilton from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Edmée Lescot from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Madame Abdala from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Aristide Bruant from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Caudieux at the Petit Casino (Caudieux, Petit Casino) from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Ducarre at the Ambassadeurs (Ducarre aux Ambassadeurs) from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec A Spectator (Une Spectatrice) from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Eccentric English Comedian (Comique excentrique anglais) from Le Café Concert 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Sick Carnot! (Carnot malade!) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Hairdresser (La coiffure), program for Bankruptcy (Une Faillite) and The Poet and the Financier (Le Poète et le Financier) at the Théâtre Libre 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover for L'Estampe originale 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Milliner, Renée Vert (La Modiste, Renée Vert) 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Aristide Bruant 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Miss Loïe Fuller 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Hairdresser (La coiffure), program for Bankruptcy (Une Faillite) and The poet and the financier (Le Poète et le financier) from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs 1893
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec German Babylon (Babylone d'Allemagne) 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Brandès and Leloir in "Cabotins" (Brandès et Leloir, dans "Cabotins") 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec La Goulue 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover for Babylone d'Allemagne 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mary Hamilton from Essai dur l'histoire de la lithographie en France. Les Peintures lithographes de Manet à Matisse. Album de lithographies originales. 1894, published c. 1924
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Nib, supplement to La Revue Blanche 1894, published 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Yvette Guilbert (proof before text) 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Photographer Sescau (Le Photographe Sescau) 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Le Mirliton, no. 1 November 15, 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Confetti 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Box with the Gilded Mask (La Loge au mascaron doré), program for The Missionary (Le Missionnaire) from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Aux Ambassadeurs (At the Ambassadeurs) 1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, Half-length (Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, en buste) 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, Standing (Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, debout) 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Lender, Fontal View, in "Chilpéric" (Lender de face, dans "Chilpéric") 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Miss May Belfort at the Irish American Bar, Rue Royale (Miss May Belfort au Irish American Bar, Rue Royale) 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Napoléon 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Irish American Bar, Rue Royale 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Hanging Man (Le Pendu) 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Adieu from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Christmas Ballad (Ballade de Noël) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec What the Rain Says (Ce que dit la pluie) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Madman (Le fou) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Butterflies (Les papillons) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Red Herring (L'Hareng saur) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Secret (Le secret) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Shooting Stars (Étoiles filantes) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Night at Sea (Oceano nox) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Sea Swallows (Les hirondelles de mer) from- Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Floréal from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Buy My Beautiful Violets (Achetez mes belles violettes) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Lullaby (Berceuse) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Old Butterflies (Les vieux papillons) from Quatorze lithographies originales (Mélodies de Désiré Dihau) 1895, published 1935
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The White Review (La Revue blanche) 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Invitation Card for Alexandre Natanson 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec A Gentleman and a Lady (Un Monsieur et une dame), program for Money (L'Argent) from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs 1895
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mademoiselle Eglantine's Troupe (La Troupe de Mademoiselle Églantine) 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Dawn (L'Aube) 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Supper in London (Souper à Londres) 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Arton Trial (Procès Arton), first plate 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Arton Trial, Ribot at the Assize Court (Procès Arton, Ribot à la Cour d'Assises), second plate 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Arton Trial (Procès Arton), third plate 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Frontispiece from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Mademoiselle Cha-u-kao, The Seated Clowness (Mademoiselle Cha-u-kao, La Clownesse assise) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman with Tray, Breakfast (Femme au plateau, Petit déjeuner) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman Waking Up in Bed (Femme Couchée, Réveil) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman at the Tub (Femme au tub) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman at her Toilette, Washing Herself (Femme qui se lave, La toilette) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman with Hand Mirror (Femme à glace, la glace à main) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman Combing Her Hair (Femme qui se peigne, La coiffure) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman in Bed, Profile, Awakening (Femme au lit, profil, Au petit lever) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Woman in Corset (Femme en corset) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Reclining Woman, Lassitude (Femme sur le dos, Lassitude) from Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Elles 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Oscar Wilde et Romain Coolus 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Caricature of Félix Fénéon c. 1895–96
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen At the Moulin de la Galette (Au Moulin de la Galette) and Skating, Professional Beauty from the journal Le Rire, no. 62 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Debaucher (Débauché) 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Romain Coolus, program for Rafaël and Salomé from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Oscar Wilde, program for Rafaël and Salomé from The Beraldi Album of Theatre Programs 1896
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Toulouse-Lautrec illustrations in Figaro illustré 1897?
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Clowness at the Moulin Rouge (La Clownesse au Moulin Rouge) 1897
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Le Gage 1897
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover for La Tribu d'Isidore 1897
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec In the Bois de Boulogne (Au Bois) 1897
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cover for Les Courtes Joies 1897, published 1925
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