Henri Toulouse-Lautrec became one of France's most prominent Post-Impressionist painters and capturing the night life of part of the city, was described as "the soul of Montmartre." He also did a number of illustrations for the magazine Le Rire during the 1890s's.

Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, France, in the mid-Pyranees region. He was the first child of a Count and Countess whose aristocratic lineage dated back over a thousand years but whose fortune had collapsed before he was born. At birth, they gave him the full name of Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa. The parents were first cousins, and credited to inbreeding were the many birth defects that Henri suffered includ...