Bathroom

Toulouse-Lautrec left many images of women in seclusion, often behind the toilet. Here he placed his heroine in the center of the composition and showed her close-up, inviting the viewer to admire her sculpted back.

At that time, the theme of bathers was popular, for example, with Mary Cassatt и Pierre Bonnardbut in this picture by Lautrec, the naturalistic influence is the main predominant one Edgar Degas. The disregard for academic pose and exaggerated perspective, rather unusual for Lautrec's work, echoes the series of women behind the toilet that Degas presented at the eighth (and last) Impressionist exhibition in 1886. The framing of the scene and the high vantage point are reminiscent of Degas' virtuoso pastels "Bathtub."lautrec admired wholeheartedly. Like his older colleague, he shows women "without excess," as if he were "peeping through a keyhole. However, Lautrec differs from Degas in the humanity with which he observed and painted his sitters.

"Redhead (Bathroom)" has long been considered one of the works created in 1896, during the artist's obsession with brothels. However, later research has shown that it appeared earlier, in 1889. In August of the following year, Lautrec wrote to an art dealer about two paintings he had recently shown in Brussels with the Société XX ("Twenty"), a group of avant-garde Belgian artists. One of them he described as a depiction of "of a red-haired, naked woman sitting on the floor with her back to the viewer.". This date is also confirmed by the vivid palette of blue, red, green, and yellow underlined in white, as well as the free style of writing. And the absence of sketches and preliminary drawings suggests that the work was painted directly from life. The artist diluted the oil paints with turpentine to give the painting a "sloppy" sketch look.

Lautrec is believed to have posed as one of his favorite redheaded models Carmen Godin. The wicker furniture and wooden floors indicate that the scene takes place not in a brothel but in the artist's studio on rue Colencourt. There is a photograph of Lautrec working on the painting "In the Moulin Rouge. Dance." in a studio on rue Colencourt in Paris. And the picture shows the same wicker chair and wooden floor as in "The Redhead.

Carmen Godin posed for artists but was not a prostitute. However, some props and clothing suggest that the model in the painting is a courtesan. She is undressed, partially wrapped in a towel, and has a dark stocking on her right leg. The rest of her clothes are folded on a cane chair nearby. These details hint that she is providing sexual services.

There are a number of inconsistencies associated with this painting. In addition to the already mentioned error in the dating are several titles - "Redhead", "Bath", "Toilet". It is now established that the author presented it in Brussels in 1890 under the title "The Redhead".

France received the painting in 1914 after the death of its owner, the politician Pierre Goujon. It was first exhibited at the Luxembourg Museum, then at the National Museum of Modern Art, then at the Louvre. It was given to the Musée d'Orsay in 1983.

Author: Vlad Maslov