At the Rat Mort 1899

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this canvas, titled 'At the Rat Mort', using oil paints. The loose brushwork is typical of Lautrec, who prioritized capturing the atmosphere of Montmartre’s nightlife over a polished finish. Notice how the materiality of paint contributes to the overall impression. Rather than concealing his process, Lautrec revels in it. See how his strokes are visible, how the colors blend wet-on-wet, and how he layers thin washes of paint to create depth and shadow. The social context of the painting is also important. Lautrec was drawn to the demimonde, the subculture of cabaret performers, prostitutes, and artists that thrived in Paris at the end of the 19th century. By embracing these subjects and portraying them with such vividness and empathy, he challenged the conventions of academic painting, blurring the lines between the fine arts and the low arts, between respectability and scandal.