Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) was born Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa on 24 November 1864 in Albi, in the south of France, the son of Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec and Adèle Tapié de Céleyran, of old provincial nobility. In 1882 he moved to Paris, where he trained in the studios of Léon Bonnat and then Fernand Cormon.
He soon settled in Montmartre, the bohemian district where he lived for the rest of his life. There he painted and drew the cabarets, dance halls, cafés and brothels around him, with great psychological insight, and his portraits of the dancers and singers of the Moulin Rouge are among the best-known images of Belle Époque Paris. In 1891 he designed his first poster, Moulin Rouge – La Goulue, and his colour lithographs, posters and the Elles series made him a pioneer of modern graphic art.
His health declined from the late 1890s, undermined by years of heavy drinking and hard work. He died on 9 September 1901 at the Château de Malromé, his mother’s estate in the Gironde, at the age of 36, after a stroke, and is buried at Verdelais. The Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi holds a large part of his work.