The 200 works in this temporary exhibition at the Grand Palais present his life as an artist, faithful to cabarets and brothels. In this era full of technological and artistic advances (the Impressionist movement is contemporary), he was a troublemaker. He who loved to dress up, was interested in men and women as well as in different religions, expressed himself through caricature. Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, with his full name, wanted to “look real and not ideal”.

Coming from one of the oldest noble families in the south of France, his parents were first cousins and had two sons. Inbreeding was then customary in order not to divide heritages.  Unfortunately, his younger brother died at one year of age and developed a bone disease that prevented him from growing taller than his 52 metre, and he had fragile bones, short limbs, deformed lips and nose. The early death of his younger brother influenced his lifestyle, he lived in haste as if he too was afraid of dying young. 

In 1875, his health forced him to leave high school because normal schooling was incompatible with his care. His mother then took care of his education and he discovered the works of the painter René Princeteau, his father’s friend. It is from there that he began to paint and draw. In 1881, he failed his baccalaureate exam but passed the catch-up session in September in Toulouse. He then went back to Paris where he attended Princeteau’s studio and organized his life as a painter. Introduced by his mentor, he entered in 1882 the studio of the painter Léon Bonnat, near Degas, then Fernand Cormon’s studio in Montmartre. There he met Émile Bernard and Vincent Van Gogh, whose portraits he painted. Then he settled permanently in Montmartre and spent most of his adult life drinking a lot of alcohol and used to mix absinthe with cognac.