Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi in southwestern France, November 24, 1864. His parents were descendants of an ancient aristocratic family, and Henri was their first and only child. In the artist's family met people, passion for art. It is widely known statement grandmother Henry that if someone from the family of Toulouse-Lautrec was hunting, he immediately pursued three objectives - shoot game, eat, and then draw it.
Father, Henry led a rather free, cheeky way of life - did not miss a single skirt, let "the winds" and almost was not at home. Mother, on the contrary, was very gentle and pious, devoted herself to family matters and only son.
Most of his childhood spent in the castle Henri Bosc (a few kilometers from Albi). He was fond of drawing since childhood, and indeed, many children from aristocratic families. But little Henri did not stop at the image of dogs and birds, it was also interested in people. Especially cartoons on them.
As a child, Henri had a misfortune - with a gap of a year during the riding he broke both his legs. Then they stopped growing - its growth was only 150 cm. In addition, he could only walk with the help of a cane. Parents tried to convince everyone that all the fault of broken legs, but most likely it was in serious genetic vice. It is known that parents Lautrec were cousins - such marriages were common in high society at the time and, of course, could not but affect the health of children.
The first lessons in painting from Henri Rene got Prensto (a family friend), a professional artist and sculptor. After she and her mother moved to Paris, where Henry was trained in the studio of Léon Bonnat. Bonn admitted in Lautrec's talent, but his drawings called themselves too outspoken and even violent.
Henry left the workshop in Bonn and entered the studio of Fernand Cormon, where he met with the newly arrived in Paris Van Gogh, with whom was friends all the time Van Gogh was in Paris. Among friends and acquaintances Henri had a lot of marginal individuals - drinkers, prostitutes; probably their unsettled fate attracted him and seemed close, because he felt so miserable.
But outwardly Henri was very charming and cheerful man, he instantly becomes the soul of any company. He also was very popular and women. This may seem strange, but for all his foreign unattractiveness, he was able to admire women like no other, and they, in turn, paid him for its location.
At the time, Henry became famous mainly due to the posters, postcards, which makes for "Moulin Rouge", but most of all he wanted to become famous as a painter. So he desperately engaged in painting, especially in the days when his physical and mental health began to weaken. This was due to excessive alcoholic libations, which gradually turned into a disease.
Mother, Countess Adele, sent her son to the hospital near Paris, where he was treated for several months from alcoholism and syphilis. But after leaving the hospital Lautrec washed down with a bang, the pace of his life became very stressful. He desperately painted and drank. He had already begun to finish many and it seemed to him valuable works, when he caught a stroke. Lautrec paralyzed. Mother took care of him the last months of his life. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec died on September 9, 1901, he was 36 years old.