Toulouse-Lautrec, a journey through the Paris of the Belle Époque

(Open to NYU Florence Students only)

Visit to the exhibition and the Museo degli Innocenti with Francesca Baldry,  Villa La Pietra Collection Manager.

A window on the Belle Époque

Paris, late 19th century. It is the age of carefreeness and progress, of art invading the boulevards, of cafes frequented by painters, writers and dancers, of the first electric lights and the birth of mass society. In this cultural ferment Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), a unique figure in the European art scene, was born and established himself. A painter, illustrator and graphic innovator, Lautrec captured the nightlife and bohemian spirit of Montmartre Paris with an ironic and profound gaze.

An assiduous frequenter of venues such as the Moulin Rouge, Lautrec was able to transform the world of the night – made up of shows, theaters, café-concerts and marginal figures such as prostitutes, dancers and chansonnier – into art. His advertising posters, created with an innovative lithographic technique, not only revolutionized the concept of promotional graphics, but also became true visual icons of the Belle Époque.

The exhibition is not only a tribute to Toulouse-Lautrec, but also an opportunity to explore the Belle Époque in all its facets: an era of contrasts, dreams and cultural revolutions. While Europe was experiencing a period of relative peace and progress, Paris became the capital of pleasure and the avant-garde, where architecture, painting, furniture, sculpture and music were invaded by references to nature, the plant world and a new image of the female figure. Regarded as an international current, it was based on a break with nineteenth-century eclecticism and historicism and represented a modern response to an increasingly industrialized society.

Conceived as total art, Modern Style became Tiffany in the United States, Jugendstil in Germany, Sezession in Austria, Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands, Art Nouveau in France and Italy, and Modernism in Spain. The exhibition rooms tell the story of this unique climate, interweaving art, society and visual culture. A session on the lithographic technique explains this innovative art for illustrations and publicity.

With Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Belle Époque, Florence celebrates not only an extraordinary artist, but also an unrepeatable historical moment that still continues to influence our aesthetic imagination today.