Meet 31 Montmartre Painters: Toulouse-Lautrec and Valadon

"Painters of Montmartre" Exhibition Opens November 7
Over 110 Works from the Belle Époque Era on Display

The exhibition "Toulouse-Lautrec & Suzanne Valadon: Painters of Montmartre," featuring more than 110 works by artists who represented the Belle Époque (the Beautiful Era), including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901), will open on November 7, 2026 at the Sejong Center Sejong Museum of Art.

This exhibition, organized by the cultural content company Gaudium Associates, will present works by 31 artists who were active in Montmartre, Paris in the late 19th century. The featured artists include Lautrec and his lover and artistic colleague Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938), as well as Jules Chéret (1836–1932) and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859–1923).

The exhibition is part of Gaudium Associates’ French Artist Series, making a return after three years. The series follows previous exhibitions such as "Marie Laurencin: Ecstasy of Color" (2017), "Magnum in Paris" (2019), "Henri Matisse: Life and Joy" (2021), and "Raoul Dufy: Melody of Colors" (2023).

For the first time in Korea, a large number of masterpieces including oil paintings from the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi, France (Lautrec’s hometown), as well as early drawings and print works, will be presented. Especially notable are works created using the essence technique, a method Lautrec favored which involves removing oil from oil paint and diluting it with turpentine. This technique allowed for quick drying like watercolor, making spontaneous expression possible. Lautrec also experimented with pastels or ink drawings layered onto highly absorbent cardboard instead of canvas, pioneering a unique genre called "drawing painting" that combined the depth of oil painting with the vibrancy of drawing and the beauty of linework.

This exhibition will also mark the first in-depth focus on the life and works of Valadon in Korea. Her creative world received widespread attention in the art world following the "Suzanne Valadon Retrospective," held at the Pompidou Center in Paris in January 2025.

In "Painters of Montmartre," the works of Valadon and Lautrec are showcased together, offering a diachronic perspective on their mutual influence and the spirit of their era. Visitors can also view landscape paintings from the “White Period,” widely considered the height of achievement for Valadon’s son Maurice Utrillo, who overcame alcoholism to succeed as a painter.

Gaudium Associates has unveiled two official posters for the event. One features "Madame Poupoule Putting on Her Make-Up" (1898), a representative work from Lautrec’s later years, and the other showcases "The Acrobats" (1916), considered one of Valadon’s major works.

"Madame Poupoule Putting on Her Make-Up" was painted by Toulouse-Lautrec three years before his untimely death at age 36 in 1901, completed just before he was hospitalized due to alcoholism and deteriorating health. In contrast to his earlier and mid-career styles, which brilliantly captured cabaret stars, this work expresses the loneliness and sorrow of the human condition through restrained brushwork.

"The Acrobats" is a definitive work that powerfully distills Valadon’s life: born the daughter of an unmarried mother, she became an acrobat and a model before emerging as a painter. Having worked as a model and muse for male artists, this piece marks her assertion of agency as an artist in her own right. The dramatic composition and bold color reflect her tumultuous journey from acrobat and model to independent artist.

This exhibition, organized in celebration of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Korea, will run until February 9, 2027.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.