Portrait of Émile Bernard
Artwork by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec • 1885
🖼️ Reproduce this artwork — 📗 Book on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec on Amazon
About this artwork - painting analysis
Created in 1885 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, this Portrait of Émile Bernard captures a young man with a thoughtful gaze, dressed in a dark suit enhanced by a casually knotted tie. The model, barely seventeen years old at the time, would become one of the major painters of postimpressionism and a close friend of Paul Gauguin. Toulouse-Lautrec represents him in a spontaneous, almost photographic pose, testifying to their budding friendship within the Parisian studio of Fernand Cormon where both were perfecting their artistic training. The turquoise background, rendered in broad vaporous brushstrokes, contrasts with the sobriety of the garment and highlights the delicate complexion of the face.
The pictorial technique already reveals Toulouse-Lautrec's precocious mastery in brushwork. The strokes are lively and synthetic, constructing volumes through juxtaposition of tones rather than through academic modeling. The auburn hair, treated in supple and disordered strands, admirably captures the natural light bathing the model's face. This economy of means and this frankness of execution announce the modernity that the artist would deploy in his famous posters and Montmartre cabaret scenes. One perceives here the influence of impressionism, but also a determination to capture the psychology of the subject with an almost cruel acuity.
This work is part of a pivotal period when Toulouse-Lautrec, an aristocrat trained in traditional studios, was progressively freeing himself from academic conventions. The year 1885 marks his definitive settlement in Montmartre, the bohemian neighborhood that would become his privileged field of observation. This portrait testifies to the artistic friendships being forged in the creative ferment of Paris, prefiguring the aesthetic revolutions of the end of the century. Housed in the National Gallery of Westminster, it remains a precious testimony to the shared youth of two artists who would durably transform the language of modern painting.
If you appreciate "Portrait of Émile Bernard" and other paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, we offer you 10% off the purchase of an art poster from our partner europosters with the promo code GRANDSPEINTRES10.
Image license: faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art.
