Le Jockey

As a young artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec enjoyed depicting outdoor scenes, especially those with horses. Later in life, he frequented the racetrack at Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris, identified here by the windmill in the background. In the spring of 1899, during a three-month stay in a psychiatric clinic, he started work on an ambitious series of color lithographs with a racing theme. This print was the only one published before his death two years later, at age 36. Its unconventional vantage point captures the power and energy of the racehorses as they speed toward the finish line.