16/04/2021
💞Le Lit ("The Bed") (also known as Dans le lit, "In bed") 💞
🔹Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892🕰️
🔹Post-Impressionism🌌
🔸It depicts two people sharing a bed. The painting has been held by public collections in France since 1937, and by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris since 1986.
The painting is one of four paintings of similar date depicting individuals in bed, often interpreted as le***an couples.
Toulouse-Lautrec became fascinated by the nightlife in Paris, particularly prostitutes. Through the 1890s, he spent more and more time painting everyday scenes of life in the official brothels, the maisons closes. In 1892 he was commissioned to produce paintings for the salon at a brothel on the rue d'Ambroise. He spent time observing the brothel, its residents and visitors, while they worked and at quieter moments, and made sixteen portraits of the prostitutes. These paintings demonstrate a close and intimate observation and compassion towards the subjects, without any sense of sensationalism or voyeurism.
It depicts two women in a bed, gazing at each other. The white sheets of the bed contrast with a red bedspread and with the headboard and wall behind. The disembodied heads of the women face each other, their bodies concealed beneath mountains of bedclothes. The painting is suffused by a warm glow, perhaps the rosy morning light, or a gas lamp. The painting is often interpreted as depicting a le***an liaison.
The painting was exhibited in Paris at the Le Barc de Boutteville gallery during the third exhibition of the Impressionists and symbolists (Nov 15, 1892 to circa February 1893).
It was donated to the French state in 1937 and initially held in the Musée du Louvre, and then transferred to the Musée d'Orsay in 1986.
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