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| • | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864, in Albi, France. |
| • | He was an aristocrat, the son and heir of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse and last in line of a family that dated back a thousand years. |
| • | His parents were first cousins. |
| • | Henri had a younger brother who was born on August 28, 1867, but died the following year. |
| • | Lautrec spoke with a lisp and suffered from pyknodystosis – an hereditary disease that causes brittle bones. At 12 he broke his left leg and at 14 his right leg. The bones failed to heal properly, and his legs stopped growing. He reached young adulthood with a body trunk of normal size but with abnormally short legs. He was only 1.5 metres tall (4.5 feet). |
| • | Henri began painting when he was 10. |
| • | His first art teacher was Rene Princeteau, a renowned horse painter. |
| • | Leon Bonnet, Lautrec's second art teacher, was also known as the favourite painter of millionaires. |
| • | Lautrec's third and final art teacher was Fernand Cormon, a successful history painter particularly known for his paintings of prehistoric bible scenes. Henri studied with Cormon for 5 years, leaving after he discovered Japanese and avant-garde art. |
| • | We know Henri de Toulouse Lautrec as the archetypical bohemian artist of the belle époque, the "beautiful era" in Paris in the last decade of the 19th Century. His paintings portray life at the Moulin Rouge and other Montmartre and Parisian cabaret and theatres, cafes, circuses, dance halls, nightclubs, racetracks and, most famously, brothels where he was a regularly and particularly fond of painting the prostitutes that worked there. |
| • | Henri's first poster was Moulin Rouge – La Goulue painted in 1891. In its first production run, some 3000 copies were pasted all around the city. It was not only his first involvement with colour lithography – the poster virtually established his career, and his name became immediately known throughout Paris. |
| • | He was particularly fond of red-headed women like Carmen Gaudin whom he felt smelt differently to other women – in fact, to Lautrec, redheads smelt of sex. His favourite part of a woman's body were inside the elbow or under the knee. |
| • | The real name of the notorious Moulin Rouge dancer La Goulue (meaning the Glutton) was Louise Weber. She was so named due to her habit of downing all the mens' drinks as she went past while dancing. She allegedly created the French Can-Can dance. |
| • | Lautrec's was also known by several nicknames including "the soul of Montmartre", "the coffee pot" and the "coathanger". |
| • | Suzanne Valodon was his mistress and his muse, modeling in such paintings as La Buveuse and A Grenelle. Henri also gave her painting lessons and she also posed for many other artists including Renoir and Puvis de Chavannes. |
| • | Jane Avril – a can-can dancer – appears in many of Lautrec's most famous paintings and posters. Although she was often called mad Jane and "the strange one", she was the star dancer of Le Moulin Rouge after La Goulue had left. Her style was a graceful, refined and melancholy mix of prudery and provocation. |
| • | Aristide Bruant – something of a Montmartre legend – featured in Lautrec's famous painting Ambassadeur amongst others. He was a balladeer, cabaret performer and the owner of a cabaret called Le Mirliton (meaning The Toy Whistle) and is credited as the person that introduced Toulouse-Lautrec to the world of Montmartre. Lautrec re-used some of the titles of Bruant's songs in some of his saddest paintings like Rosa La Rouge () and A Grenelle. |
| • | Henri was a notorious drinker and alcoholic favouring beer, wine, brandy, whiskey, and the infamous absinthe. He was also very fond of American cocktails and invented many himself which he served at his rowdy Friday night parties. In fact, he owned a special cane with a secret compartment where he stored alcohol so that he could take secret drinks whenever he wanted to. |
| • | It is said that pretty much every female performer who appears in Lautrec's art was a lesbian. |
| • | Lautrec met Oscar Wilde in Paris where they both shared a taste for absinthe. Henri was a great supporter of Wilde and painted him – in fact he painted quite a few celebrities of the day including Tristan Bernard and Yvette Guilbert. |
| • | Henri enjoyed visiting London often on business, typically staying at the Charing Cross Hotel and eating at his favourite fish restaurant Sweetings (which is still there). Indeed, his family insisted that they were in some way related to Richard the Lionheart. |
| • | Henri de Toulouse Lautrec died from the complications of alcoholism and syphilis aged 36 on September 9, 1901 at the castle of Malrome, amidst his family. He is buried in Verdelais, Gironde, a few kilometres from his birthplace. He left behind about 700 oil paintings, 5,000 drawings, and 350 lithographs. |
| • | Henri's last words were addressed to his father. They were not particularly flattering though. "Vieux con" was Henri's bye-bye to his eccentric dad – which translates as "You old fool". |
| • | Toulouse Lautrec was played by José Ferrer in John Huston's 1952 film Moulin Rouge which won two Oscars. Ferrer used a set of special knee pads of his own design which allowed him to walk on his knees with his lower legs strapped to his upper body. He suffered extreme pain and could only use them for short periods of time. |
| • | Today, the family estate houses the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec |
