Shop art print and framed art In bed, the kiss by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The History of Toulouse-Lautrec's "Au lit, le baiser"

In the tumultuous, bohemian world of Paris at the end of the 19th century, one artist stood out for his ability to capture the moments of intimacy and solitude of the marginalized of his time : Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Among his works is a painting charged with emotion and significance for the artist's career: Au lit, le baiser (1892).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, born in 1864, belonged to an aristocratic family and grew up in a privileged environment. Despite health difficulties, he developed a passion for art from an early age and decided to devote himself to painting, moving to Paris in 1882. In the heart of Montmartre, the young artist frequented iconic venues such as the Moulin Rouge and the Brasserie Graffard, where he captured snapshots of the decadent nightlife of the time.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted four pictures of female couples in a series named "Au lit". With his painting, the artist cast a voyeuristic yet compassionate eye on the plight of these prostitutes who, earning their living in "houses of tolerance", found love with lesbianism. Toulouse-Lautrec would paint nearly seventy paintings on the theme of prostitution, whose scenes exceed the enclosed space of the bedroom and also take place in Parisian cabarets, theaters and cafés.

Description of the work

This painting depicts two young women huddled together in a bed. Their embrace in the hollow of the sheets reveals two naked bodies beneath the covers. The kiss they exchange is a mixture of carnal passion and amorous fusion. Lost in the image of the "same", they seem the exact mirror of each other.

The very tight framing of this painting betrays all the sincerity and authenticity of this tender moment. Treated in long, tight, vertical brushstrokes, the pale blue sheets seem to overwhelm the two figures. Moreover, Toulouse-Lautrec's lively, light touch conveys the fleeting, ephemeral nature of the moment, and links this painting to the Post-Impressionist aesthetic.

A unique work in Toulouse-Lautrec's career

"Au lit, le baiser" bears witness to several important aspects in Toulouse-Lautrec's career and life .

In fact, the painter had a fascination for female representations, whether of dancers, prostitutes or models. According to some art historians, this may have been linked to his own difficulty in forming lasting love relationships due to his frail health and small stature.

His ability to transcend the codes of the time propelled the four paintings in the "Au lit" series to the rank of veritable hymns to love and modernity. In 1892, the depiction of two women kissing on a bed might have shocked Parisian bourgeois society. Yet Toulouse-Lautrec chooses to depict this kiss without voyeurism or obscenity, and offers the viewer a scene imbued with tenderness and poetry.

Finally, this painting is a manifesto of pictorial modernity: far from conforming to the academic conventions then in force, Toulouse-Lautrec adopts a personal, innovative style that will influence many artists of his generation and beyond, notably Picasso or Matisse.

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the post-impressionism style.

« In bed, the kiss » is kept at Private collection.

Find the full description of In bed, the kiss by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec on Wikipedia.