Portrait of Toulouse Lautrec, in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, with the Natansons

Portrait of Toulouse-Lautrec in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne with the Natansons of 1898 places his fellow painter within the specific social world of the Natanson circle at the country house where both men were summer guests. The Villeneuve-sur-Yonne property was the gathering point for the Revue Blanche circle's summers, and Toulouse-Lautrec's presence there alongside Vuillard documented the social overlap between two painters whose artistic methods were entirely different but whose social world was shared. His treatment of Toulouse-Lautrec within the Natanson domestic setting followed his characteristic approach — the subject encountered within a specific social and domestic environment, the setting defining the character of the encounter as much as the individual figure's physique and personality. The named Natansons in the title confirm the social documentation function of this portrait: it records a specific gathering of a specific social circle at a specific time and place.

The informal garden or house setting provides a relaxed compositional framework. Lautrec's distinctive figure — short, broad-shouldered — is observed without the caricature or pathos that sometimes marks portrayals of him. Vuillard's treatment is affectionate and direct, the background loosely handled.