Rue des Moulins, 1894

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the knees up, two pale-skinned women stand in profile facing our left, holding their skirts around their waists so their buttocks and thighs are exposed in this vertical painting. The scene is streaked with opalescent, loose strokes and stringy lines that resemble drawing. Both women wear dark green, thigh-high stockings and step forward onto one foot. They faintly smile as they look ahead of them with heavy-lidded eyes. The woman on our left has blond hair gathered at the back of her neck and a fleshy, jowly face. Her lilac-purple, sleeveless garment hangs loosely from her shoulders. The woman on our right has flame-red hair, a flushed face, and round cheeks. Her mint-green garment is hooked over her shoulders like a short cape. Strokes of light brown, petal pink, teal blue, and dusty rose are layered over their pale buttocks and thighs. A third woman behind them and to our right faces away from us. Her dress is blocked in with spruce green, and she has brown hair. The walls of the room are painted with crimson-red lines against the brown of the cardboard on which this is painted. A shimmering blue rectangle could be a window or reflective surface on the far wall. The artist signed the lower right corner with interlocking capital H, T, and L.