TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, Henri de
(b. 1864, Albi, d. 1901, Château Malromé, Langon)

Messalina between Two Female Figures

1900-01
Oil on canvas, 92 x 68 cm
Emil Bührle Collection, Zurich

The sick Lautrec spent the winter of 1900/1901 in Bordeaux, where he visited the Grand Théâtre and painted scenes from Isidore de Lara's opera "Messaline" and Jacques Offenbach's operetta "La Belle Hélène." In the last days of 1900 he painted six pictures in rapid succession. Messalina between Two Female Figures is particularly representative of these last works, in which colour takes precedence over all other consideration. The picture is given life by the harmony of reds, blues and yellows.