Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sketched brilliantly. Notice how he shows the prostitutes as real humans—they are neither
glorified nor vulgarized in his works.
Find the big
Au Salon de la Rue des Moulins
(1894). There are two versions:
the quick sketch, then the finished studio version. With this piece, Toulouse-Lautrec ar-
rived—no more sampling. The artist has established his unique style, oblivious to soci-
ety's norms: colors (strong), subject matter (hidden worlds), and moralism (none). Henri's
trademark use of cardboard was simply his quick, snapshot way of working: He'd capture
these slice-of-life impressions on the fly on cheap, disposable material, intending to con-
vert them to finer canvas paintings later, in his studio. But the cardboard quickies survive
as Toulouse-Lautrec masterpieces.
Now, spiral up two flights through a room showing off a rare terra-cotta tile floor
original to the building. The walkway hovers above the floor and the diagrams help you
imagine what the floor looked like when it was painted. You'll soon come to Toulouse-
