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The painting shows Lautrec's friend Viaud, who really was an admiral, and who allowed him to spend some time on his yacht in 1899, at Countess Adèle's request. Lautrec had just been released from hospital (an asylum) in Neuilly and his mother hoped that this ruse would prevent her son from succumbing to alcohol again.
All his life Lautrec was interested most of all in portraits. One of his very first works was a portrait of his father on horseback, and one of his last a significant portrait of his friend Paul Viaud as admiral.
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