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Lot Essay
Executed in 1894, Deux femmes valsant dates from one of the great highpoints of the life and artistic career of an artist often considered to epitomise the values, or lack thereof, in late Nineteenth Century Paris. A legendary figure in his own right, Toulouse-Lautrec's decadence and immersion in the demi-monde of the French capital reached an apogee in 1894, a year which he spent largely living in brothels, visiting bars, theatres, cafés and cabarets, and documenting the range of characters, both on and off the stage, whom he encountered and often befriended. During this period, prompted by his thirst for life, his almost physical need to paint and his fascination with his surroundings, Toulouse-Lautrec created masterpiece after masterpiece on paper and on canvas, capturing the world around him with an unbridled vitality. And it is in works such as Deux femmes valsant that one truly has the impression that the artist was capturing a scene that was unfolding before him, crystallising a single moment in a corner of Paris.
The theme of lesbianism, a source of fascination for many of Toulouse-Lautrec's contemporaries, and a source of poignant social taboo to those members of the bourgeoisie that he so enjoyed taunting, appeared in many works from this period. This was, in part, a reflection of some of the people by whom the painter was surrounded, and in part, a reflection of the air of easy intimacy between the girls in the brothels in which he was spending so much time. Deux femmes valsant, though, like the painting of the same title, appears to show women at a tea-dance, such as were held in many of the places the artist frequented. Are these women lovers, or is it the viewer's association with Toulouse-Lautrec's espousal of the disenfranchised of his age that leads to that reading? This ambiguity appears to be a deliberate ploy on the part of the artist, making the picture all the more of a riddle, and all the more engaging and absorbing as an insight into both his life and those of the two dancing women.
The theme of lesbianism, a source of fascination for many of Toulouse-Lautrec's contemporaries, and a source of poignant social taboo to those members of the bourgeoisie that he so enjoyed taunting, appeared in many works from this period. This was, in part, a reflection of some of the people by whom the painter was surrounded, and in part, a reflection of the air of easy intimacy between the girls in the brothels in which he was spending so much time. Deux femmes valsant, though, like the painting of the same title, appears to show women at a tea-dance, such as were held in many of the places the artist frequented. Are these women lovers, or is it the viewer's association with Toulouse-Lautrec's espousal of the disenfranchised of his age that leads to that reading? This ambiguity appears to be a deliberate ploy on the part of the artist, making the picture all the more of a riddle, and all the more engaging and absorbing as an insight into both his life and those of the two dancing women.