At The House of Gold (A la maison d'or)

At The House of Gold (A la maison d'or) is a pivotal graphic work created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1897. This intimate image, classified as a highly refined print, was executed as a lithograph using a distinctive olive green ink, characteristic of the innovative, muted color palettes Toulouse-Lautrec often employed in his graphic output.

Falling squarely within the vibrant French artistic period spanning 1876 to 1900, this piece epitomizes the fin-de-siècle fascination with contemporary urban life and its sometimes hidden corners. Toulouse-Lautrec, renowned for capturing the candid reality behind Parisian glamour, frequently focused his gaze on intimate, observational environments. While specific subject details are kept sparse, the artist typically used the lithographic medium to document figures in cabarets, theaters, or brothels, utilizing the simplified lines and compositional asymmetry derived from Japanese ukiyo-e traditions.

The subtle tonal shifts achievable through this specialized olive green medium lend the scene an evocative, perhaps nocturnal, atmosphere, underscoring the artist’s mastery of visual narrative. As one of the era’s most crucial printmakers, Lautrec embraced the lithograph for its expressive capabilities and its capacity for producing widely distributed impressions, which helped define the aesthetics of the period. This powerful work illustrates why the artist’s prints are considered essential documents of the late 19th-century Parisian social structure.

The original impression of At The House of Gold is housed in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., where it contributes significantly to the understanding and study of French graphic arts during this crucial decade.