The work Les grands concerts de l'opera was created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1895. Classified as a print, this piece utilized a photomechanical process, reflecting the growing industrialization of art reproduction during the fin-de-siècle. As an influential figure in late nineteenth-century Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec captured the energy and social strata of the city's nightlife and performance venues. This specific work, dated near the end of the 1876 to 1900 period, is rooted firmly within the visual culture of the French Belle Époque.
The work employs the photomechanical process to produce the final image, a method Toulouse-Lautrec utilized extensively for commercial and graphic prints. This classification places it within the sphere of illustrative or advertising art, emphasizing the artist's pioneering use of industrial methods to disseminate his work to a broader audience beyond traditional gallery settings. While the precise subject matter of Les grands concerts de l'opera likely pertains to the major musical events held at the Opéra, the piece is characteristic of Toulouse-Lautrec’s style. His technique involves the distillation of complex scenes into graphic, linear compositions, marked by strong contours and a sense of immediacy derived from Japanese woodblock influences.
Toulouse-Lautrec was renowned for his ability to distill complex scenes of modern life into striking graphic compositions, blurring the lines between illustration and fine art. His approach became synonymous with late nineteenth-century Parisian advertising and defined the era's graphic design standards. This significant work, a testament to the artist’s mastery of commercial graphic arts, is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., contributing to the museum's extensive holdings of period prints. As a work created prior to the 20th century, high-resolution images of this piece often become available through resources offering art historical material in the public domain.