Collection: Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and others

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Limoges 1841 - Cagnes-sur-Mer 1919) was one of the leading figures of Impressionism and among the most beloved French painters of his time. His work brought to the canvas the joy of light, the pleasure of everyday life, the softness of bodies and landscapes: a bright and welcoming world, built with a loose and vibrant brushstroke that became his unmistakable signature.
Renoir's graphic production is limited but of great quality. He began engraving around the age of fifty, relatively late, and over nearly two decades created about sixty prints – etchings and lithographs in almost equal measure – often commissioned by friends, publishers, and the dealer Ambroise Vollard, who was a decisive figure for him. The etchings often originated as frontispieces or illustrations for volumes; the lithographs, sometimes in color, reveal the same sensitivity to soft light and fluid gesture that characterized his painting. The subjects are those dear to his research: female nudes, scenes of family life, portraits, treated with the same lightness and grace as his canvases.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Albi 1864 - Malromé 1901) was the most irreverent visual chronicler of late 19th century Paris, indissolubly linking his name to the nightlife of Montmartre. Raised in an aristocratic family, he settled in the quintessential bohemian neighborhood, drawn to an intense life that became the focus of his artistic exploration.
His revolution occurred on the lithographic stone. In 1891 he created his first poster, the famous Moulin Rouge, and from that moment color lithography became the language in which his vision found its most complete form. His compositions show a deep assimilation of the Japanese ukiyo-e prints that he collected and studied. He also used the crachis technique, spraying ink onto the plate to create diffuse and vibrant color atmospheres. In less than ten years, he produced almost 400 prints and 31 posters, erasing the boundary between art and mass communication. His famous color lithographs stand out for their extraordinary modernity, characterized by daring poses far from academicism, dynamic silhouettes, and bold framing influenced by Japanese prints. By representing dancers, actors, and cabaret-goers in scenes of intoxication and pure joy and advertising the most famous bohemian venues of the time, Lautrec transformed graphics into an immediate and powerful means of expression, capable of capturing the energy and decadence of the Belle Époque.

Marie Laurencin (Paris 1883 - Paris 1956) trained in early 20th century Paris where, thanks to her encounter with Georges Braque, she came into contact with the Cubism of the Bateau-Lavoir and became the muse of Guillaume Apollinaire. Exhibited in the main avant-garde Salons, Laurencin developed an autonomous language that found full maturity after her Spanish exile in the 1920s, when she established herself as a portraitist of Parisian high society, especially female. Alongside painting, Laurencin built an important graphic production focused on etchings and woodcuts. The novelty of her sheets lies in having translated her recognizable stylistic mark into print: a radical simplification of composition and the use of a pastel color palette dominated by pinks, blues, and whites. Representing almost exclusively female universes, maidens, and nymphs in ethereal, fairy-tale, and blurred visions, Laurencin broke the norms of the time, bringing to paper a lyrical and modern elegance.