“La Passagere du 54” was based on sketches that Lautrec made while on a cruise on the steamship ‘Le Chili’ from Le Havre to Bordeaux. The artist developed a crush on the aloof woman, the passenger from cabin 54, whom he never formally met. He refused to disembark until the ship reached Lisbon, where his friend Maurice Guibert finally dissuaded him from sailing on to Dakar, the mystery-woman’s destination.
Read more about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec on the Matthews Gallery blog.