Messalina, 1900–1901, Part 1

While spending the winter in Bordeaux, Toulouse-Lautrec went to the Grand Theater to see the opera Messaline. Contemporaries reported that he shouted “beautiful” from his seat, to the great annoyance of the other theater patrons. The artist’s passionate response was reminiscent of what he called his furias, intense obsessions with certain entertainers, usually of the dance-hall variety. He would return to see them perform over and over, capturing their particular gestures and performance styles in his art. While rarely produced today, Messaline premiered to enthusiastic reviews at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1899 and was subsequently produced throughout Europe.