Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Mr. Toulouse paints Mr. Lautrec, a fun trick photographic portrait c. 1891

A photograph of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec c. 1894, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo by Paul Sescau)

Au Salon de la rue des Moulins (1894) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Reine de Joie (1892) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, France, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec)

At the Moulin Rouge (1892–95) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Art Institute of Chicago, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Rousse, La Toilette (1889) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée d

Le Lit (1893) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée d

La Blanchisseuse (1884–88) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in a private collection, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of a private collection)

Deux femmes dansant au Moulin-Rouge (1892) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the National Gallery in Prague, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the National Gallery in Prague)

L' Inspection médicale (c. 1894) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the National Gallery of Art)

Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Civica Raccolta di Stampe Bertarelli, Milan, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Civica Raccolta di Stampe Bertarelli)

At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance (1890) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art)

La Goulue arriving at the Moulin Rouge (18) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art)

Reine de Joie (1892) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, France, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec)

The Marble Polisher (1882), an early work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in the Princeton University Art Museum, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum)

Photograph of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Toulouse-Lautrec, General (Photo by Maurice Guibert)

A louche, Bohemian painter of tavern and theatre scenes

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (1864-1901) is most famous for his work with thinned down oils to create paintings and posters of wispy, fluid lines anticipating Art Nouveau and often depicting the Bohemian life of Paris (dance halls, cafes, top-hatted patrons of fancy parties, and—of course—the Moulin Rouge).

His parents, a count and countess, were first cousins, and the inbreeding habits of European royalty probably contributed to Toulouse-Lautrec's lifelong health issues, including fracturing both legs as a teen, which then never grew while his torso did, giving him an odd adult appearance and statue (4' 8").

He disappeared into a life of art, alcohol, dance halls, and prostitutes and while he produced a prodigious amount of art, his health only continued to deteriorate. Toulouse-Lautrec never lived to inherited his father's title, dying at the age of 26 from complications of alcoholism and syphilis.