The Promenade des Anglais in Nice

The Promenade des Anglais in Nice by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, 1864-1901, is a fascinating early work executed between 1879 and 1881. This piece showcases Lautrec’s developing technical skill, rendered primarily in fluid watercolor, enhanced by delicate touches of opaque gouache, and structured by underlying graphite sketching on ivory wove paper. The classification of the work as a painting, despite its paper medium, underscores its finished quality and detailed execution.

Created when the artist was still a teenager, this watercolor provides insight into the formative years of Lautrec’s career, predating his celebrated move into Post-Impressionism and his immersion in the cabaret and theater life of Paris. The subject matter captures a characteristic scene of fashionable public life along the famous coastal road in Nice, a prominent resort city in the South of France. The setting reflects the cultural focus on leisure and societal display prevalent in 19th-century French art.

While not yet exhibiting the bold, graphic lines and flat color fields associated with his iconic lithographs and posters from the 1890s, the energy and sharp observational skills typical of Lautrec’s mature output are already subtly evident in this piece. This early depiction of everyday existence remains a critical example of the artist’s output before he truly defined his signature style of artistic commentary. The piece is held within the esteemed permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, contributing significantly to the museum's holdings of French fin-de-siècle art. Like many historical works of art, high-quality prints and digital reproductions of Lautrec’s more famous works are now widely available through public domain initiatives.