1896
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Elles: Woman in Bed is a 1896 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman sits up in bed, her face half-lit, her hair loose. The sheets are rumpled, the room plain. Lautrec spent years sketching women in Paris brothels—not to shock, but to show quiet moments most artists ignored. This print was part of a series that flopped at first; people expected glamour, not everyday life. If you like this honest, unflashy style, look up *impasto*—a thick, textured way of painting that gives work a lived-in feel.
The French publisher Gustave Pellet, hoping to attract new customers, persuaded Lautrec to make a series of ten prints, plus frontispiece and cover, depicting brothels. Although it was not unusual to see prostitutes pictured in the popular press, Lautrec was the first well-known, successful artist to tackle this subject. The set was a commercial failure when it first appeared, perhaps because the scenes are not erotic. Lautrec had said that "they are women to my liking", and between 1892 and 1895 he often lived in various Parisian brothels for weeks at a time. This allowed him to witness the…
This print belongs to a portfolio published by the dealer Gustave Pellet, who created a special luxury paper that featured a watermark of his initials.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (French: ), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator.
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