TOULOUSE-LAUTREC: the fleeting world

  As I said in my last post, I wanted to write about an exhibition. There are a lot of interesting ones in Milan in this period, as the Klimt Experience (at Mudec) or the Caravaggio exhibition (at Palazzo Reale), or the Fontana one (at Hangar Bicocca), but I have chosen to go to the Toulouse-Lautrec one at Palazzo Reale because I was interested in knowing something more about his life and paintings.

The shopping bag I bought at the shop

  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, caricaturist and illustrator who lived in the multifaceted atmosphere of Paris in the late 19th century. He was one of the most famous Post-impressionist painter, together with Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. He was a member of an aristocratic family and due to a family history of inbreeding he suffered from congenital health conditions; he broke his legs when he was a child and they didn't heal properly, but instead they ceased to grow, so he was very short, even if he had an adult-sized torso. He fully embraced the bohémien lifestyle of Montmartre, a place he rarely left for 20 years.

  He suffered a lot for his deformity, but he found a shelter in the life of the theatres of Paris and in painting, trying to forget his aristocratic origins: in his photos, his poses are irreverent and he often uses costumes.

  At the exhibition there were also two portraits which stroke me: the first one is a self-portrait of Toulouse-Lautrec, while the second one is a caricature of the painter himself.

  it is one of the few self-portraits of the painter and in this one he was very young; the caricature has the head full of details, while the rest of the body is drawn with a few lines.

"The exhibition project is split into themes and will invite the visitor to appreciate the fascination and artistic importance of the bohemian painter who, without adhering to any school, knew instinctively how to create a new and provocative realism, an extreme synthesis of form, colour and movement." (from the Palazzo Reale website; here the link)

  Toulouse-Lautrec was influenced by Manet and Degas, but also by the Japanese woodprints, regarding silhouettes and the use of the black; moreover, he was a master in portraying people in their daily-life, as when they were working, always using an extreme sympathy and respect for each subject he had chosen.

  He is famous for his posters of theatres, as the one for the Divan Japonaise or the one for the Moulin Rouge, but also of events as bicycle racing and many more.

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  I really like this exhibition, because it managed to make me discover a lot more about an artist I didn't know so well before. This happened also thanks to the free audioguide, which was very helpful during the visit.

See you soon

Yours, Silvia