In Bed

In Bed is a seminal print created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, 1864-1901 in 1898. This compelling work is classified as a print and exemplifies the artist's masterful handling of the lithograph technique. Executed during the fin-de-siècle period in France, the piece was produced using lithography on tan or gray-brown wove paper, highlighting Lautrec's dedication to printmaking as a primary artistic medium rather than merely a reproductive process.

Lautrec (1864-1901) often chronicled the intimate and sometimes unvarnished lives of Parisians, particularly those residing in the entertainment halls and private quarters of Montmartre. Unlike his often-boisterous portrayals of cabaret dancers and performers, In Bed offers a profoundly quiet, personal moment. The composition captures a deeply human scene of two figures resting beneath the covers, focusing on the geometry of the shared space and the soft, suggestive lighting characteristic of an interior. The artist employs his characteristic visual language—including flattened perspectives and bold, defining outlines, often informed by Japanese woodblock prints—to maintain the immediacy and intimacy of a captured glance.

The careful selection of the paper—a subtly colored tan or gray-brown wove stock—adds a tactile and subdued quality to this lithograph, enhancing the warmth and shadows depicted in the domestic interior. As one of the most celebrated printmakers of his generation in France, Lautrec played a critical role in establishing lithography as high art. This particular example of In Bed is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, providing scholars and the public an invaluable reference point for understanding the artist’s prolific late-career output of prints.