Two years ago, the MNBA presented a temporary exhbition of works on paper. One of the artist on display was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).

This French artist is well-known for his portraits of dancers and regulars of the most famous nightclub in the 19th century: the Moulin Rouge. He was admired (still is) for depicting, with no restrains, the personality and moral nature of his characters. 

It seems that there's always something new to discover in his work. Thus, New York's MoMA presented The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec, an exhibition that showcased the society of that fascinating time, through the eyes of this very particular artist.

La Goulue au Moulin Rouge, by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1891-92)

Technique: oil on cardboard - MoMA 

Toulouse Lautrec developed certain obsessions he called Furies. They could be techniques (like lithography, for example) or a cabaret actress. It is said that he went to see dancer and singer Marcelle Lender more than twenty times. Apparently he was obsessed with her back, although only one of the 12 lithographies he did of her show her in that pose. 

Many of his works portrayed people that developed a certain activity by night and a completely different one by day. It was, in fact, what happened to him, who played a role while with his aristocratic friends and Catholic mother, quite different to the bohemian artist that visited nightclubs at night. 

Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1895) 

Technique: Lithography - Edition of 100

MoMA

No other place made Montmartre popular as the emblematic Moulin Rouge. Opened in 1889, it was the most luxurious and exhuberant nightclub in Paris. Apart from being a dance club and cabaret, it offered bizarre shows as clowns, cancan dancers and palm readers.

An Englishman at the Moulin Rouge, by Toulouse Lautrec (1892)

Technique: Lithography. Edition of 100

MoMA

It's been 30 years since the Museum last dedicated Lautrec a solo exhibition. This time it was a chance to show Paris' Belle Epoque through more than 100 works.