Émilie

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

late 1890s · Oil on wood · European Paintings

Although Lautrec is best known for his depictions of the bawdy entertainments on offer in Paris’s Montmartre neighborhood, he was also intrigued by the lively world of the racetrack. In the late 1890s he painted a group of scenes that capture spectators and riders in off-hand moments. Here, he created a witty visual parallel between the exaggerated, bustled silhouette of the woman in the foreground, and the horse and rider behind her. At lower left, Lautrec inscribed the painting “to Émilie”; her identity remains unknown.

Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Date

late 1890s

Medium

Oil on wood

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973