Belle Époque

Henri (Marie Raymond), Count of Toulouse-Lautrec, was a French painter, printmaker and lithographer who chronicled the so-called ‘Belle Époque’, French for the beautiful era. This period lasted from the end of the 19th century until the beginning of the First World War and was characterized by widespread prosperity, tremendous advances in art and science, and a high degree of social stability.

Toulouse-Lautrec was an aristocrat who was only too happy to be part of Parisian nightlife. An artist and observer, he was known for depicting the most intimate moments of society's outcasts without moralizing or pretentious commentary.