Today’s painting is by one of the most famous post-impressionist artists, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The painting is most often called “The Hangover,” though occasionally subtitled “Portrait of Suzanne Valadon,” an artist on her own right. It’s also been called “The Drinker.” The original hangs in the Fogg Museum at Harvard. It was painted in 1888.
And yes, I realize it may very well be wine in the glass and the bottle, but I’m holding out hope that it may also be beer because I like the painting so much. Toulouse-Lautrec was an alcoholic most of his adult life, and originally had a taste for beer and wine, though he later began drinking American-style cocktails, too. He had a hard time coping with people’s cruel tendency to mock his short stature and turned to drink as a result.
Art and alcohol were his only mistresses, and they were mistresses to which he devoted all of his time and energy. He was doing one or both almost every day of his life until he died.
For more about Toulouse-Lautrec, Wikipedia is a good place to start, and there are a number of links at the ArtCyclopedia and the Artchive. And you can also see a number of his other works at Olga’s Gallery, the Artliste, the Web Museum and CFGA.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Valadon was also the mother of another famous French artist Maurice Utrillo and she was the first woman elected to a noteworty French artists group Beaux Arts! I often wonder if this artists style influenced Van Gogh?
Jay,
I read the post…
…then stared at the picture of the painting (the one above) for about twenty minutes. I don’t know if I should thank you for presenting this wonderful peace of art, or for wasting twenty minutes of my time! ;)
But I’ve seen this painting before (not in real life) and with out knowing much about the artists history I too always wondered and held out hope that maybe…just maybe it was indeed beer. Though it does seem far more likely that it’s wine…or possibly some other type of liquor…I will still hold out hope as you do…that it might be beer. :)
Ilya
Doesn’t look like a wine glass…