Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Toulouse-Lautrec. The collection from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome
january 27, 2016 - Musei Civici Roma

Toulouse-Lautrec. The collection from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome

A major exhibition devoted to Toulouse-Lautrec, the quintessential bohemian painter of fin-de-siècle Paris, is opening at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome. The show features around 170 works from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, which span the artist’s career from 1891 to 1900, shortly before he died prematurely at the age of thirty-six.
Promoted by Roma Capitale – Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, produced by Arthemisia Group and organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura, the exhibition brings to Rome the pick of the Toulouse-Lautrec Collection at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum) – one of the most important in Europe, with masterworks ranging from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The Rome exhibition, curated by Zsuzsa Gonda and Kata Bodor, displays around 170 lithographs from the collection (including eight large-format posters and two covers of albums, each composed of about 10 lithographs, devoted to the French singer, actress and writer Yvette Guilbert),
which will be on display at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis from 4 December 2015 to 8 May 2016.
The show is intended to give visitors a complete picture of Toulouse-Lautrec’s graphic output through posters, illustrations, sheet music covers and playbills, some of which are absolute rarities, since they were printed in signed and numbered limited editions with a dedication by the artist.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is considered the most celebrated master of the print and poster in the Parisian Belle Époque period. One of the most distinguishing features of his art is his portrayal of the most diverse aspects of humanity in everyday or entertaining situations, which the French bourgeoisie
found fascinating. He drew most of his inspiration from Montmartre in Paris, and the majority of his works depict the nightlife and popular haunts in this quarter. They are snapshots of the quotidian rendered with great immediacy. In next to no time he became one of the most sought-after illustrators and draughtsmen in Paris, receiving commissions for posters advertising plays, ballets and shows, and for illustrations that appeared in leading contemporary magazines like Le Rire.
In addition to the works of Toulouse-Lautrec, the exhibition includes rare photos and film clips from the beginning of the 20th century which evoke the Parisian Belle Époque. There is also an interactive app that enables the visitor to learn about lithography and printing techniques at the end of the 19th century, from colour and large-scale reproduction to the birth of the advertising poster, which Henri anticipated with his art.
The exhibition is sponsored by Generali Italia, with Codognotto as technical sponsor and Trenitalia as partner in the initiative.

Toulouse-Lautrec. La collezione del Museo di Belle Arti di Budapest

December 4, 2015 - May 8, 2016
Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Rome