La Goulue and Her Sister

La Goulue and Her Sister by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a unique, experimental work cataloged as a Drawing, demonstrating the artist’s commitment to incorporating emerging technologies into his artistic practice. The medium employed is highly distinctive: oil à l'essence (thinned oil paint) applied directly onto a gelatin silver print that has been mounted on board. This methodology allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to quickly add vivid color, defining compositional elements, and expressive brushstrokes to an existing photographic base, merging the quick capture of the camera with the expressive potential of painting.

Toulouse-Lautrec was an essential chronicler of the bohemian nightlife of late 19th-century Montmartre, and his subject here is the famed Can-Can dancer Louise Weber, better known by her stage name, La Goulue. Though the archival classification period provided for this object is listed as 1851 to 1875, the identity of the subject and the characteristic style of the artist place the creation of this work firmly within the subsequent Post-Impressionist era of the 1890s. This piece exemplifies the dynamic cultural production occurring in French art during this time, where artists blurred the boundaries between high art, popular culture, and mass-produced imagery.

The artist's characteristic reliance on strong linear composition is evident despite the mixed media, justifying the Classification as a Drawing. This piece reflects Toulouse-Lautrec’s broader interest in graphic arts, particularly his mastery of lithography and the production of advertising posters. Preserved in the National Gallery of Art collection, La Goulue and Her Sister remains an important study of a celebrated Parisian personality. While the original piece is a singular object, the extensive output of the French master ensures that a wide array of Toulouse-Lautrec’s imagery, including many of his famous posters and prints, remains widely accessible and often within the public domain.