Leaving the Theater
Medium
Lithograph in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.5 × 26.3 cm (12 7/16 × 10 3/8 in.); Sheet: 47.2 × 35.1 cm (18 5/8 × 13 7/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
35981
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Infused with a feeling of euphoria, this closeup image depicts the madam of the maison close (“brothel”) in the rue des Moulins leaving a theater. The background sculpture resembles a prop or decoration but also brings to mind the sensual treatment of the female form in French shows of the time. Mirroring this pleasure, the female subject leans back onto her companion with closed eyes, giving the viewer a sense of her blissful theatrical evening.
About the Artist
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1864–1901
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (1864-1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose innovative poster designs revolutionized graphic art and advertising in late 19th-century Paris. Born into an aristocratic family at Albi in southern France, Toulouse-Lautrec's privileged lineage traced back to the Counts of Toulouse and extended uninterrupted to th...