A Remarkable Friendship

Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND JANE AVRIL

April 30 – August 29, 2021

Jane Avril was one of the great stars of Paris during the late nineteenth century, regularly performing in dance halls and cabarets in Montmartre. At the height of her career, she befriended Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who rendered her leaving the famed Moulin Rouge cabaret after one of her concerts. This exhibition celebrates both artists, their unique friendship, and the world in which they thrived—the nightlife in Paris at the fin de siècle, the end of the nineteenth century. Rarely seen lithographs by Toulouse-Lautrec as well as works by his contemporaries will also be on view. Passionate and provocative in his personal relationships as well as in his work, Toulouse-Lautrec became known as a remarkably sympathetic, sensitive, and idiosyncratic portraitist of women, as can be seen in our great painting.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

July 31 | Curator Talk: Leaving the Moulin Rouge

Sustaining support for the Wadsworth Atheneum provided by the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign with support from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts.