An artwork on Galleree from Cleveland Museum of Art.
About the artwork
Monsieur Boileau at the Café1893
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Cleveland’s 1925 purchase of this work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec marked the first acquisition of one of the artist’s drawings by a museum in the United States. Its subject, Monsieur Boileau, was a gossip columnist known to drink heavily at Le Mirliton, a nightclub. Here, saturated, acidic tones evoke the room’s gas lamps and thinned oil paint absorbs into its support, producing texture that complements the scene’s grittiness. In his own time, Toulouse-Lautrec was considered a portraitist for such depictions of friends and other inhabitants of his neighborhood. He preferred drawing for its immediacy, using it to record his sitters’ personalities through materials and formal choices.
The green drink on the table is probably absinthe, a popular drink with artists at the time that was thought to have hallucinogenic properties.
oil and tempera with charcoal on millboard
Sheet: 80.3 x 65 cm (31 5/8 x 25 9/16 in.); Framed: 105.4 x 89.5 x 8.3 cm (41 1/2 x 35 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
In the bustling galleries of art, there lies a work whispering secrets of the past—a piece that captured the attention of the Cleveland Museum in 1925, marking a historic moment. It was the first time an American museum welcomed a drawing by the celebrated Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec into its collection. Imagine, if you will, the moment the curators unveiled the drawing, a sense of anticipation hanging in the air like the smoke from the gas lamps that once lit the nights of Paris.
The subject of this captivating piece is none other than Monsieur Boileau, a renowned gossip columnist whose reputation for indulgence was matched only by his penchant for the lively atmosphere of Le Mirliton, a vibrant nightclub where tales and toasts flowed freely. Through Toulouse-Lautrec’s skilled hands, the essence of Boileau springs to life, portrayed with peeling paint that seems to drip with the weight of unspoken stories and poignant moments.
As you gaze at the artwork, you can almost feel the gritty texture beneath your fingertips, a result of thinned oil paint that has settled into its support, creating an intimate connection with the observer. The saturated, acidic tones reflect the evenings spent in dimly lit rooms, where laughter mingled with gossip, and life was both celebrated and scrutinized. Each brushstroke invites you to peer into the heart of Toulouse-Lautrec’s world—a world where drawing became his chosen language, a means to capture the very spirit of those around him.
In his lifetime, Toulouse-Lautrec was not merely a portrait artist; he was a storyteller. He sought to explore the depths of his sitters' personalities, drawing them in such a way that they emerged as vivid characters from a living tapestry. Here, we find the delicate balance he struck between form and emotion, each line a whispered truth—an echo of the life lived in vibrant shades, under the gaslight glow, filled with the laughter and shadows of Parisian nights.
About the artist
Creating transformative experiences through art “for the benefit of all the people forever.”The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The artworks shared on this platform are sourced from the museum's Open Access data under the CC0 license. No endorsement is implied.Address: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH, USA 44106
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