Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901), French aristocrat and artist, is one of the most famous painters of Post-Impressionist period, a group which includes names such as Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. In his works, he details the late 19-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris, especially the glitter and the glamor of the Montmartre, the area of Paris notorious for entertainment industry and brothels and the hangout of artists, writers, and philosophers.
Lautrec’s posters promoted Moulin Rouge entertainers as celebrities and his paintings depicted dancehall performers, courtesans and other society marginal with both sadness and admiration. Although he is today considered as of the most exciting French artist of fin-de-siècle Paris, in his time he was often mocked for his short stature. So he drowned his sorrows in alcohol, which led to his premature death at the age of 36. Today he is one of the best-known painters of all time admired for works such as At the Moulin Rouge, The Laundress, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, Salon at the Rue des Moulins, La Goulue arriving at the Moulin Rouge and many more.
Here are some of his best quotes.
1. ON LOVE AND DESIRE
Love is when the desire to be desired takes you so badly that you feel you could die of it. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
2. ON CRITICS AND NOT GIVING UP
Bonnat tells me, ‘Your painting isn’t bad, it is chic, but even so it isn’t bad, but your drawing is absolutely atrocious.’ So I must gather my courage and start once again… – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
3. ON PAINTING AND PAINTERS
I have always been a pencil. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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I have tried to do what is true and not ideal. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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I do not know if you bridle your pen, but when my pencil moves, it is necessary to let it go, or – crash!… nothing more. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
I paint things as they are. I don’t comment. I record. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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Only the human figure exists; landscape is, and should be, no more than an accessory; the painter exclusively of landscape is nothing but a bore. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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Everywhere and always ugliness has its beautiful aspects; it is thrilling to discover them where nobody else has noticed them. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
In our time there are many artists who do something because it is new… they see their value and their justification in this newness. They are deceiving themselves… novelty is seldom the essential. This has to do with one thing only… making a subject better from its intrinsic nature. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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I don’t belong to any school. I work in my corner. I admire Degas. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
4. ON DRINKING
One should not drink much, but often. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
5. ON WOMEN
The wise woman patterns her life on the theory and practice of modern banking. She never gives her love, but only lends it on the best security and at the highest rate of interest. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
6. ON WOMEN IN THE BROTHEL
A professional model is like a stuffed owl. These girls are alive. – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
