Toulouse Lautrec Prints

Canvas art paintings by French artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. These pieces of art celebrate the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century. His delightful masterpieces are digitally reproduced onto the highest-quality canvas for printing. These durable pieces of art are hand-stretched onto hardwood frames and arrive ready to hang.

Picture yourself immersed in a colourful Parisian scene of the late 19th century, inspired by the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. From the Moulin Rouge to Le Chat Noir, his paintings capture the imagination of Parisians enjoying a night out at their favourite cabaret.

What was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec famous for?

The French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was famous for depicting bohemian nineteenth-century Paris. His artworks are known for depicting the degradation of the city’s inhabitants, from the absinthe drinkers to the night workers. Toulouse-Lautrec was also well known as a guest at the Moulin Rogue, the evening being a somewhat VIP thanks to his frequent appearances. He designed multiple posters for the Moulin Rouge too.

Early Life

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi in southern France into a family of aristocrats. Although he grew up in an immensely privileged life, Toulouse-Lautrec preferred to live in the colourful Parisian neighbourhood of Montmartre, where bohemian culture and vibrant nightlight held his interest. Besides his artwork, the French artist is recognised for his short stature. He stood tall at 4ft 8. Toulouse-Lautrec suffered from a bone disease as a child, and while his torso grew regularly, his legs never developed from those of a child.

Being so sick as a child allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to pursue art. He spent months recuperating from ailments, and during this period he practised his skill as a draughtsman. Encouragement to create art while sick most likely came from a close friend of the family, Rene Princeteau, who was a deaf-mute. In 1882, Toulouse-Lautrec moved from his birth town to Paris, where he began to study painting in an academic institution. He painted en plein air, like the Impressionists.

Famous Artworks

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec first began to create artworks from his sickbed when he was a child. His start with art is not dissimilar to other artists, most prominently Frida Kahlo. His subject matter ranged but his best-known artworks deal with the nightlife of Montmartre, Paris. He roamed circuses, dance halls, cabarets, and theatres. Toulouse-Lautrec frequented these joints on a nightly basis. Perhaps it was due to the rise in industrialisation at the end of the century, but in Paris between 1890 and 1900, there was a growth in the nightlife scene. The scene was this: people dancing in dance halls, café-concerts serving everything and anything from alcohol to smoking to great conversation with someone you may not have bumped into at work. The classes mingled. They enjoyed one another’s company. They experienced this new phenomenon.

Like Vincent van Gogh and Edouard Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec’s art was inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings. Toulouse-Lautrec first studied academic painting before abandoning the style and going his own way. Toulouse-Lautrec was inspired not only by van Gogh and Manet, Edgar Degas and Japanese woodblock painting. The influence can be seen in Toulouse-Lautrec’s work through bright colours, silhouettes, cropped compositions, and pictorial flatness. Toulouse-Lautrec made paintings, drawings, prints, and posters.

Moulin Rouge posters

When the Moulin Rouge first opened in 1889, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to create the posters. The focal point of these posters were the performances. His short stature gave him an advantage, and in these circles of the Moulin Rouge, he mingled with those who were deemed the unsavoury: dancers, circus performers, and prostitutes. But it was by being in these circles that allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to capture a side of Paris the like of Claude Monet and those like him never saw. His height allowed him to observe these scenes unnoticed. Toulouse-Lautrec came from three lines of aristocracy and the upper class is not his subject matter.

At The Moulin Rouge (1892-95)

Toulouse-Lautrec moved from Albi to Paris in 1882, and within the decade he was associated with the Moulin Rouge. The original owner of the Moulin Rouge had bought Toulouse-Lautrec’s artwork Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando) (1997-88). A year later, Toulouse-Lautrec was hired to create posters of the new establishment, and not long after created the masterpiece At the Moulin Rouge. In the painting, we see Toulouse-Lautrec himself sitting amongst the nightclub’s regulars. Sitting beside Toulouse-Lautrec is his cousin, a physician. In the background is the dancer Jane Avril, who can be seen fixing her orange hair. a singer, May Milton, is looking at the painting’s spectator, where a garish light strikes her face with blue.

At the Circus: The Spanish Walk (1899)

Toulouse-Lautrec made many artworks of the circus, and At the Circus is one such example. Toulouse-Lautrec’s affection for horses started when he was young. When he was bedridden, Toulouse-Lautrec would create artworks of horses, following in the footsteps of his teacher Princeteau, who was an avid painter of sporting pictures. At the end of the century, Paris hosted many circus shows and you better believe Toulouse-Lautrec headed to all of them. The circus was made up of people on the outskirts of society and Toulouse-Lautrec felt a kinship with them. When Toulouse-Lautrec created this portrait, he was recovering in a sanatorium from alcoholism. Toulouse-Lautrec drew this artwork, alongside the other circus pictures, completely from memory. The French artist said it was by creating these artworks while in the clinic that helped improve his health, allow doctors to release him early.

At The Moulin Rouge, The Dance (1890)

Being a regular customer at the Moulin Rouge allows you some insight into the club, like being on a first-name basis with the staff. At The Moulin Rouge, The Dance was the largest canvas Toulouse-Lautrec had attempted at the time. It shows a lively scene at the Moulin Rouge, and at the centre is a woman dancing. The woman is in fact a new dancer of the club being trained by a man named Valentin, the star of the Moulin Rouge. This is known because, on the back of the canvas, Toulouse-Lautrec had inscribed: “the training of the new girls by Valentin ‘the Boneless.’