Rhetorical Situation of Henri de Toulouse Lautr

Alan Anderson
4-7-11
Terri Barker
English 101
   
    As I look at Henri de Toulouse Lautrec’s  “The Kiss” the power of the intense red background fills my mind with the feeling of love and the emotions of making love. The passion shown in the kiss between these two lovers expresses to me that Lautrec was longing for this very same passion at the time. Therefore I feel that passion is the genre of “The Kiss”. The single tear that is rolling off the cheek of the fully clothed woman expresses to me that she is in love with her lover and she makes her happy to the point of crying. I feel that Lautrec’s purpose for this painting was to show that lovers share a connection that is unbreakable. So with that being said the stance of this piece to me is love. Lautrec was know for creating controversial works of art.  With this piece being one of his earlier pieces, he was truly testing the waters to see how far he could push the envelope. He used mostly oil paints as well as chalk pastels on some occasions as his choice of media. I feel as if Lautrec was trying to reach out to a new audience, a group of people who look at his work, and not judge it, but analyze it and look past the substance and into the true meaning of the piece. As the years have passed his works of art have only increased in popularity, and have grown to more than I’m sure Lautrec could have ever hopped for.