17. A Famous Artist Devoted to Ladies of the Night
Prostitutes liked Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec just as much as he liked them. Parisian ladies of the night befriended him, modeled for him, and even supported him when he was broke. Prostitutes and madams accepted the crippled artist as a fellow outcast. He liked their company so much, that he would sometimes pack up and move into brothels, to live there for months on end. Toulouse-Lautrec liked to shock people by giving the address of a famous brothel as his place of residence. He was allowed to freely wander around the establishments, to sketch and paint what he saw as the muse took him. The results were reflected in his body of work, and he became known for his depictions of sex workers.
The Belle Epoque era in which Toulouse-Lautrec lived was one in which prostitution was widespread. Most men routinely made used their services, with little stigma attached. Still, even in the socially liberal France of the late nineteenth century, hookers were a subject handled with discretion, and seldom discussed openly. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings of prostitutes as they were broke such taboos. His portrayals neither glamorized nor vilified them, but simply depicted the everyday life that he shared with them in a near-documentary fashion. He died at age thirty six from advanced syphilis, which he got from one of his prostitute friends – make of that what you will.
