Toulouse-Lautrec: Resolutely Modern at the Grand Palais

Paris | 9 October 2019–27 January 2020

Tim Marlow, artistic director for London's Royal Academy of Arts, chooses the best exhibitions to see this month, presented by Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
 

T he electrifying output of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is being reconsidered in a novel exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec: Resolutely Modern, at the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais in Paris. The show, which brings together over 200 artworks, examines the legacy of the renowned artist.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Au Cirque Fernando: Ecuyère, 1887-1888. The Art Institute of Chicago.

Curators at Rmn-GP assert that museums and galleries have repeatedly positioned Toulouse-Lautrec as a trivial artist, who was enticed by the allure of a bohemian lifestyle – an artist enveloped by the ‘culture of Montmartre.’

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Rousse (La Toilette), 1889. Musée d’Orsay © Rmn-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.

Toulouse-Lautrec: Resolutely Modern seeks to shape the narrative of Toulouse-Lautrec anew, removing the tropes and associations of the Moulin Rouge. As a result, the exhibition presents an authentic and insightful window to Toulouse-Lautrec’s remarkable oeuvre.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Messaline descend l’escalier bordé de figurants (L’opéra Messaline à Bordeaux), 1900-1901. Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, LACMA © Museum Associates/ LACMA.

Toulouse-Lautrec: Resolutely Modern will open in at the Grand Palais on 9 October 2019 and comes to an end 27 January 2020.

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