Labelled a freak, son of aristocrats and one of France's most admired artists, Henri de Toulouse - Lautrec claimed he had two lives. Lives that were not only an antithesis to one another but would inspire the most creative images of the time. At the turn of the century, Paris was bathed in superficial gaiety, high living and a cosmopolitan atmosphere unparalleled by any other city in the world. It was a special period when Parisian society took particular enjoyment in and cultivated the arts. Lautrec captured not only this feeling of prosperity but also the underside of poverty, crime and exploitation that flourished on the outskirts of Paris.

His bohemian life of theatres, sports arenas, cabarets, dance halls, and brothels of Paris is the primary subject of the international exhibition of the National Gallery of Victoria, "Toulose - Lautrec: Prints and Drawings From the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris'. His images are invaluable not only as an insight into the artist's life but as rare historical documents of the special world in which he lived, the sordid but exciting nocturnal haunts of Paris.

The other life Lautrec led was that of the only surviving son of the Count of Toulouse - Lautrec, one of the oldest and most prestigious aristocratic families in France. He would often leave his decrepit Paris studio and visit huge provincial estates and be surrounded by the spoils of wealth. These dramatically opposing lifestyles are constant subjects of his work.