Emile Bernard
- Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
- Date: 1886
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is "Emile Bernard" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painted in 1886. What's striking about this portrait is the contrast between Bernard's reputation as a radical artist and how he's depicted here - more as a young bourgeois than a bold innovator. You can see why Lautrec might have portrayed him this way, given that they were classmates at Cormon's atelier in Paris.
Lautrec and Bernard had a mutually beneficial arrangement, where each would sit for the other to capture their likenesses. This portrait of Emile Bernard is one of twenty times he sat for Toulouse-Lautrc to paint him. The oil on canvas medium gives it a rich texture, don't you think?
See it in person
Emile Bernard hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
