Salon at the Rue des Moulins

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was the firstborn son of an aristocratic family, but life wasn't easy for him. He had lots of health problems and, because he was unable to enjoy life in the way of most other men at his age, he turned to art. Lautrec, who was mocked for his small height, started to abuse alcohol and to spend his time in socially unacceptable places. The nightlife of Montparnasse and Montmartre was fascinating to him. This 1894 painting shows bored, tired courtesans waiting for clients in the public house at 6 rue de Moulins (known as La fleur blanche, "the white flower"). Lautrec probably found inspiration for this piece in Two Venetian Ladies, by the late-Gothic / early-Renaissance Italian painter Vittore Carpaccio.