Monsieur Boileau at the Café

Boileau was a gossip columnist who drank heavily at Le Mirliton. He sits with cards and a glass, filling the frame, entirely at ease. The green drink on the table is almost certainly absinthe.

The colours are acidic and slightly wrong, which is the gaslight; the thinned paint sinks into the board and leaves a texture that suits the room. Cleveland bought it in 1925 — the first Toulouse-Lautrec drawing acquired by any museum in the United States. He inscribed it to Boileau as a friend.