The Hangover

A woman slumps at a café table, chin propped on her hand, a bottle and half-empty glass keeping her company. Her eyes wander off somewhere far away, heavy with the dull ache of a morning after too much wine. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this scene around 1887 to 1889, and the woman is thought to be Suzanne Valadon, a former circus performer who became his lover and went on to build her own name as a painter.

The brushwork feels quick and unfinished, with the bare canvas peeking through in places and the colors kept soft and washed out. Lautrec admired the Impressionists, but he had his own approach, one that leaned toward the tired, less flattering side of everyday life. Paris nightlife was his world, and he spent countless hours among the dancers, drinkers, and regulars of its bars and dance halls. He never tried to make things prettier than they were, which is why this simple, weary moment stays with you long after you turn away.