The Musée Toulouse-Lautrec occupies the Palais de la Berbie, a 13th-century fortress-palace adjacent to the cathedral that was once the residence of the bishops of Albi. The setting is magnificent — the palace gardens step down to the Tarn river in terraces, with views of the old bridge and the flat Tarn valley beyond. The museum holds the world's largest collection of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's work, including paintings, drawings, posters, and lithographs.
The collection was assembled largely through donations from the artist's family, who kept his work in Albi rather than allowing it to be dispersed internationally. The result is a coherent picture of an extraordinary career: from his early naturalistic studies, through the poster work that made him famous in the 1890s, to the late paintings from the final years. The famous Moulin Rouge posters are here, but so are a large number of less well-known oils and pastels that show a draughtsman of exceptional precision. Allow at least two hours.