Mademoiselle Dihau au piano - Toulouse-Lautrec - 1890 - MTL.132

Painted in 1890 and now at the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, this portrait of Mademoiselle Dihau at the piano captures a member of the Dihau family — Lautrec's friendly connections who had themselves been subjects of a Degas portrait. Henri Dihau was a bassoonist in the Paris Opéra orchestra whom Degas had painted; his sister Marie was a piano teacher. By painting Marie Dihau, Lautrec was placing himself in deliberate dialogue with Degas's portrait of Henri — an act of homage and gentle competition within the family's circle. The musical subject connects to Lautrec's wider interest in performance and artistic labour.

The pianist is captured in the posture of performance — hands at the keyboard, body slightly forward, the physical concentration of musical execution conveyed through attitude rather than gesture. The domestic interior setting is handled with increasing spatial confidence, the piano as a dark mass anchoring the composition.