The Final Outing (from Les Vieilles Histoires)

Art Historical Context

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec *The Final Outing*, the 1893 series *Les Vieilles Hist* (Old Stories), captures poignant moment of nostalgia and human connection. Created in collaboration with printers Jean Goudezki andouard Kleinmann, this and spatter lithograph depicts elderly figures—likely on a final promenade—adorned with distinctive hats, evoking the passage of time and faded grandeur. Produced during the vibrant fin-de-siècle Paris, Lautrec's Post-Impressionist vision often celebrated the city's underbelly, but here he turns to melancholic vignettes inspired by old tales, blending humor and pathos. The artwork's medium is a masterclass in lithography: Toulouse-Lautrec pioneered the "brush and spatter" technique, applying ink with brushes and splatters for a fluid, painterly quality that mimics drawing's spontaneity. Printed in black on wove paper in a single state, it measures a compact 14 3/16 × 10 13/16 inches, ideal for intimate display. This innovation elevated posters from mere advertisements to fine art, influencing modern graphic design. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982), *The Final Outing* invites reflection on aging and memory amid Lautrec's era of rapid social change. Its human figures, with expressive poses and attire, remind us of the artist's empathy for life's overlooked stories.

About the Artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|Jean Goudezki|Edouard Kleinmann · 1864–1901

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (1864-1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose innovative poster designs revolutionized graphic art and advertising in late 19th-century Paris. Born into an aristocratic family at Albi in southern France, Toulouse-Lautrec's privileged lineage traced back to the Counts of Toulouse and extended uninterrupted to th...