Horse behind a slatted door

In 1882 the young man who painted this was 17 and had not yet seen Montmartre. As a boy Henri had broken both legs, and the bones never healed properly, which closed off the riding and hunting life that his father, an obsessive horseman, expected of him. So he drew and painted the animals instead. For four years he had studied with René Princeteau, a deaf painter of horses and hunts and a friend of the family, and horses were his first real subject. Here one is seen through the slats of a wooden stable door. That same year he left the family's world near Albi for the Paris studios, and before long the horses gave way to the dancers, singers and cabarets that would make his name. This early canvas stayed with his family, and it hangs today in Albi, the town where he was born.