Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: An Interesting Edwardian Artist

A few weeks ago my father and I visited the Norton Simon museum of art in Pasadena and I discovered an artist called Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a painter from the Edwardian Era who was known for being short, an alcoholic, and for liking brothels and the Moulin Rouge. Now I'm not going to waste a whole bunch of time giving you his whole life story since I'd basically just be paraphrasing The Metropolitan Museum of Art's website. Besides, biographies are generally pretty boring because they always include details such as the artists' date of birth, what random people they studied under, and useless descriptions of the appearances of paintings that we can plainly see. So here are just some pictures and facts I found interesting.

Fun fact: Henri was 5'1." As was customary with aristocratic families, there was a great deal of inbreeding and it's likely that's part of the reason why Henri was so short.

Fun Fact: He enjoyed brothels and occasionally he even lived in them.

Fun Fact: One of his favorite models was a prostitute called Rosa La Rouge. Some people believe that she was the woman who gave him syphilis, which, coupled with alcoholism, eventually led to his death.

Fun Fact: He was part of Paris' bohemian movement during the late 19th century.

Fun Fact: He liked painting lesbians and the Moulin Rouge.

I like Henri because he uses vivid colors in a way that reminds me of Henri Matisse, because he employs thick brushstrokes in a manner similar to Vincent van Gogh, because his posters remind me of pop art and Andy Warhol, because his dancers remind me of Edgar Degas, and because he portrayed a part of Edwardian society that many other artists of his era were either unwilling or unable to.