Collapsed on the Bed, from the series Elles

Description

In Collapsed on the Bed, a reclining female body stretches horizontally across a bed, with a red-haired head appearing toward the upper right of the pale brown field. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec gives the figure’s collapsed position a quiet, concentrated encounter within Elles. The sparse graphic presence invites attention to body and support, allowing the named condition to carry the scene without assigning a cause to it.

The 1896 crayon lithograph is printed in two colors on wove paper. Its graphic form gives the quiet subject a continuing presence, allowing the viewer to regard the relationship between body and bed at another pace. The work’s interest lies in that concentrated encounter, where an ordinary interior and a resting position can carry the composition rather than an elaborate dramatic event.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec collection.