The Two Friends (Les Deux Amies) (1894)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

oil on millboard

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

CC BY-NC-ND This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence. You can reproduce this image for non-commercial purposes and you are not able to change or modify it in Photo credit: Tate

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Millboard

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed: 'HTL' (in monogram) bottom left

Dimensions:

47.9 x 34 cm

Accession Number:

N05142

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1940

Scheme:

Bequest

Ownership history:

Laugier; Paleseau; with Clovis Sagot, Paris; with Paul Cassirer, Berlin; with Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, 1930; with Georges Bernheim, Paris, 1936; with Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, 1936; purchased by Montague Shearman (1885-1940), London, 1936; by whom bequeathed to the Contemporary Art Society; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1940

Relationship:

Cassirer Paul Cassirer Alex. Reid & Lefevre, Ltd (The Lefevre Gallery), London Galerie George Bernheim, Paris Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives Montague Shearman

Between 1892 to 1895 Toulouse-Lautrec made many paintings and drawings inspired by life in Parisian brothels. He is known to have spent days at a time in the brothels, where he was accepted by the prostitutes as a friend and confidant. During these periods he was able to make numerous studies of the women in casual, everyday poses, as they waited for their clients. This painting is possibly a study for part of a larger painting known as 'In the Salon’ (1894) in the large collection of works by this artist at the Musée d'Albi in France. It was bequeathed to the Contemporary Art Society by the son of the judge Sir Montague Shearman, PC (1857 – 1930), Montague Shearman (1885-1940), renowned art collector of French and British pictures and a CAS Committee Member (1927-40) as well as its Hon. Secretary from 1938 until his death. He had purchased it in London at Alex Reid & Lefevre, London in 1936.

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