1896
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Elles: Woman Sleeping is a 1896 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman lies curled on her side, one arm tucked under her head, the other dangling off the bed. The room is dim, just a few lines suggesting a chair and a rumpled sheet. Lautrec didn’t glamorize her—no soft focus, no fancy clothes. He knew these women; he spent nights in Paris brothels, sketching them between clients. The series was meant to sell prints, but buyers weren’t interested. They wanted titillation; Lautrec gave them quiet, everyday exhaustion. If you like this honesty, look up the technique called *impasto*—thick paint that stands up on the canvas like the folds in her blanket.
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.
See the richer artist page
