![Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC | The sofa [Le sofa]](Images/400/209927.jpg)
Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
France 1864 – 1901
62.9 (h) x 81.0 (w) cm
Stamped (lower left): HTL [monogram]
Reference: Dortu P.601 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Rogers Fund, 1951
Until the mid-1800s female homosexuality was considered absurd due to the fact that many medical professionals did not believe in female sexual impulse. Whilst lesbianism in fin-de-siècle Paris was common it was negatively judged by conservative society. For this reason, it was a sexual preference many kept hidden.
Here, two unknown prostitutes share a moment of private tenderness. Lautrec’s sensitive treatment of the theme reveals a glimpse of real intimacy in an otherwise constructed world of sexual extravagance and simulated fantasy.
Until the mid-1800s female homosexuality was considered absurd due to the fact that many medical professionals did not believe in female sexual impulse. Whilst lesbianism in fin-de-siècle Paris was common it was negatively judged by conservative society. For this reason, it was a sexual preference many kept hidden.
Here, two unknown prostitutes share a moment of private tenderness. Lautrec’s sensitive treatment of the theme reveals a glimpse of real intimacy in an otherwise constructed world of sexual extravagance and simulated fantasy.
Until the mid-1800s female homosexuality was considered absurd due to the fact that many medical professionals did not believe in female sexual impulse. Whilst lesbianism in fin-de-siècle Paris was common it was negatively judged by conservative society. For this reason, it was a sexual preference many kept hidden.
Here, two unknown prostitutes share a moment of private tenderness. Lautrec’s sensitive treatment of the theme reveals a glimpse of real intimacy in an otherwise constructed world of sexual extravagance and simulated fantasy.
