https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec

https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec

So far after all the artists I have read - I think only 6 or something? - I think Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has been my favorite. Not only do I like some of the posters he designed but I enjoy his paintings and I liked what I read about him and his interesting life. For those of you who don't know He broke both his legs early on in life and they did not heal correctly which left him with a stunted appearance. The book I was reading which was written in the 70's spoke of him as a dwarf - I'm not sure how accurate that is. He was born into an aristocracy family, if he would have outlived his father he would have inherited the family title - Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec. He came from a family of inbreeding sadly - his parents were first cousins. That may of had a-lot to do with his health problems.

He was born in 1864 and was considered a post impressionist. He spent a good amount of time in brothels and prostitutes and lesbians, showing up beautifully and naturally in his paintings. He preferred the woman in these places as opposed to plain models. Late 19 century in bohemian Paris seemed like it was quite a time and the fact that he created some works of art for us to view now makes it all the more interesting. Some of the copied prints in the book I read had women embracing and having a some form of intimacy. Others were of people in their natural environments. Henri did have an alcoholism problem and had spent some time in a sanatorium for three months and during that time he drew 39 circus portraits by memory, I find that impressive. He died at the young age of 36 of alcoholism and syphilis. His mother and art dealer kept promoting his artwork after his death.