Biography Of Toulouse Lautrec

Artist Biography and Painting Critique

Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa, commonly known as Toulouse Lautrec, was born on November 24th, 1864. He lived out the entirety of his life in France, and died on September 9th, 1901. Born into a family of noble but inbred blood, he had inherently frail bones, and after a series of horrendous accidents, was crippled for life. During his recovery from one such accident, he discovered his love and talent for drawing and painting. He spent a considerable amount of time in Fernand Gormon's studio, and met with Vincent Van Gogh. He also visited many locations Van Gogh has worked at. They were both of the pre-impressionistic era. Lautrec's body of work often featured scenes from brothels. He was well respected for his art at the time of his death.

Lautrec's Papa Chrysantheme, painted in 1893, features three female figures on a brown, cardboard-like background. Two images of ladys in flowing, form fitting dresses are viewed from behind in the foreground, in between which is a woman who appears to be in the center of a stage, on a pedestal. She is leaning backwards, her skirt flayed out behind her. The audience is a blackish-purple shadow surrounding the murky green pedestal, the three female bodies outlined in white, red, and yellow shaded slashes. All three are vague forms, with no faces or details. Dashy, erratic lines create a sense of movement, a flurry of motion which the female dancers are creating as the twirl eroticly in their dresses. Their flesh is the color of the background - speckled yellow-brown. This and purple are the main colors in the painting, the one's you notice first. The painting is entirely earthy, natural tones, very expressive of the flourishing movement and erotic dancing Lautrec is trying to capture. The incomplete outlines of the body create a frenzied appearance, a fluid rather than concrete picture - a movie clip