# At the Circus: Trained Pony and Baboon

**Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec** (French, 1864–1901)  
1899  
Pastel and graphite on cream wove paper  
43.9 × 26.7 cm (17 5/16 × 10 9/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1944.581. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/51386).

## About this work

A trained pony and a baboon perform in the ring, drawn in pastel and graphite entirely from memory. In 1899, after a breakdown brought on by alcoholism, Toulouse-Lautrec was confined to a clinic at Neuilly, outside Paris, and to show his doctors that his mind and hand were sound he made a series of some forty circus drawings, recalling acts he had watched for years. The odd, lonely spaces of many of these sheets give them an unsettling, dreamlike quality.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this in 1899, aged 35. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of pastel and graphite on cream wove paper.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Pastel.** Sticks of almost pure pigment with very little binder. The colour sits on the paper as powder: bright, matte and fragile.
- **Graphite.** Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.

### [Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec)

French, 1864–1901; born in Albi; died in Saint-André-du-Bois

Toulouse-Lautrec came from an aristocratic family in Albi; after two leg fractures in his teens his legs stopped growing, and he turned to art. Trained in Paris under Léon Bonnat and Fernand Cormon, he settled in Montmartre and recorded its dance halls, cabarets, circuses and brothels with quick, incisive line. His colour lithograph posters for the Moulin Rouge and its performers transformed the street poster. He died at the family’s Château de Malromé at the age of thirty-six.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawing and Watercolor
- Culture: France
- The artist was 35
- Real size: about 17 × 10 in (43 × 26 cm). The 12 × 16 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Colour: white
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/161.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/161/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/at-the-circus-trained-pony-and-baboon-aic-51386).