September 1 • 2019 The Mail on Sunday^ Holidays 73
On the track of Lautrec
in my kind of Tarn
H
ENRI Toulouse-Lau-
trec’s iconic Moulin
Rouge paintings sell
for millions. Yet this
tragic art superstar
is one of the least
understood of the great painters.
Now there’s a chance to discover
more about his extraordinary life,
not within the seedy underworld
of Paris where he ended up, but
amid the quiet orchid-covered
hills of south west France where
he grew up and learned to paint.
The Toulouse-Lautrecs, one of
France’s grandest aristocratic fami-
lies, lived in mansions, castles and
estates around the little-visited
region of Tarn. And it’s now easy to
take tours of this area, combining the
charms of old-style France with the
inspiration of a cultural adventure.
This area east of Toulouse is so
unspoilt you will see beret-wearing
cyclists clutching baguettes and
pretty villages where the loudest
noise is the crowing of a cockerel.
Any Tarn holiday must start at
the old quarter of its small capital
city: Albi. The cathedral is the
world’s biggest brick building
and looks more like a sombre fort
on the outside. Visitors often ask
‘Where’s the cathedral?’ while
standing right alongside.
You may wonder why it’s
acclaimed, until you step inside. It
offers one of the best ‘Wow!’ mom-
ents in any church. Every surface
of the vast interior is covered in
intricate carving, glittering gilding
and colourful painting.
Next door, the Bishop’s Palace is
also a must-see. Outside, it’s another
ancient, fortified brick stronghold
but housed in the ancient, arched
chambers and dusty corridors
there’s now a museum about the
local hero: Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
Here is the world’s finest collec-
tion of his drawings, paintings
and prints. Even non-arty visitors
can enjoy browsing letters and
photos about his life.
Old black-and-white photos show
how Henri’s growth was stunted
by what was probably a genetic dis-
ease. The family’s only heir could
never be the swashbuckling young
nobleman his father dreamed of,
so turned to art instead. Henri was
a distinctive figure: extremely
short with a trademark beard, hat
and walking stick. After leaving
Tarn, he lived a colourful life in
turn-of-the-century Paris.
His family in Tarn was fabulously
rich but he lived in artistic poverty
with Vincent Van Gogh, dined with
Oscar Wilde and painted the seedi-
est side of Paris. Always feeling a
disappointment to his family, he
drank himself to an early grave in
1901, childless and aged just 36.
It’s a good time to visit Tarn to
learn more – you’ll be ahead of the
blockbusting, biggest-ever interna-tional exhibition of his work in Par-
is’s Grand Palais which opens on
October 9. A few narrow streets
away from the Bishop’s Palace
you’ll see how privileged Henri’s
upbringing was. His family’s tur-
reted mansion isn’t open but in the
backstreets behind, you can eat in
one of their former stables.
The Lautrec bistro has yet more
bare redbrick walls and serves
local culinary masterpieces such
as lamb roasted in pink garlic for
seven hours. Albi suits aimless wan-
derers: cobbled alleys wind down to
the river dotted with little ‘secrets’such as the 900-year-old cloisters
through an innocuous door between
a sweet shop and menswear bou-
tique. Or spot old houses with tower-
ing brick chimneys – they once
signified it was the workplace of a
‘pastelior’, or woad maker.
These pastel shops are dotted
around Tarn and sell blue woad pig-
ment – the stuff Boadicea’s ancient
Britons and Wallace’s Scottish clans-
men painted on their faces.
In Tarn, it’s still fashionable to
dye fabric with ‘pastel’. Much of
their woodwork is painted with it,
too: blue window frames, shutters
and doors are everywhere. Albi
cathedral’s ceiling is painted woad
blue and sometimes the whole
building is floodlit in Tarn’s fav-
ourite shade of blue.
Toulouse-Lautrec fans can explore
dozens of sites across the region.
One of the best is taking the short
hike up a grassy track among
butterflies and wild roses to Montfa
hilltop castle. It’s undergoing a
crowd-funded rebuilding projectemploying volunteers who are only
too pleased to put down chisels for
a chat about the Toulouse-Lautrecs
who lived here. You’ll hear how
Henri’s eccentric father kept pet
lions and monkeys and the artist
signed his paintings as ‘Montfa’.
Not far away, find Mauriac
Chateau, an intact medieval Lau-
trec family fort, now home to
French artist Bernard Bistes. A
tour is a mix of history and viewing
2,000 of Bernard’s paintings hung
on every available surface.
The best demonstration of
Tarn’s loveliness is Lautrec village
itself: a cute hamlet where wild-
flowers grow up the sides of stone
cottages and birds swoop along
the sleepy main street. The
square’s ancient stone arcades
host a Friday market.I
N A BACk alley there’s
another ‘pastel’ shop, and
Toulouse-Lautrec ancestors
are buried in an ornate
village church. Locals say
the most exciting days in
the village come during special
church services to bless a bread
they’re very proud of. The best
place to try this superbly crusty
stuff is in the Jardin du Clocher
cafe, opened by a returning villager
after 16 years working in the con-
trasting glamour of Monaco.
Explore the riverside town of
Castres nearby for more glimpses
of French rural cliches. Under pol-
larded trees in the square, an old
van sells horse meat to passers-by
and you’ll find the best views of
overhanging riverside houses come
from the windows of Art Deco pub-
lic toilets below the street level.
The most memorable attraction
is in a winding back-street where
eccentric septuagenarian Jean-
Pierre Carme performs ‘Carillons
Tarnais’ tunes for visitors on a
complex array of 38 bells at the
top of a 120-step church tower.
He might not speak English but
if you manage to explain you are
British, he launches into God Save
The Queen with a big smile as his
peal of large bells rings out across
the town so everyone can hear.By Simon Heptinstall
EasyJet (easyjet.com) has flights from Gatwick
to Toulouse up to three times a day. Double
rooms at Hotel Alchimy, Albi (alchimyalbi.fr)
cost from €130 a night; Mercure Hotel l’Occitan,
Castres (hotel-restaurant-l-occitan.fr) has
double rooms from about €70 a night. For
more on Tarn holidays, visit tourisme-tarn.com.geTTIng THere
UNIQUE
TALENT:
One of
Toulouse-
Lautrec’s
classic
paintings
of theatrical
life in ParisATMOSPHERIC: The River Tarn
running through Albi, above; the
awe-inspiring ceiling of the town’s
cathedral, left; and Henri, far leftgetty images / alamy / shutterstock