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Lautrec was fascinated to discover that many of the girls in the brothels were deeply in love with each other, and he frequently made these couples the subjects of his paintings. He thereby succeeded in portraying the genuine depth of these lesbian relationships without exposing the girls' tenderness and helplessness to voyeurism.
The figure with her back to us in the foreground acts as a barrier between the viewer and the intimate scene that is taking place between the two girlfriends, blocking the voyeur's view of titillating detail. The composition of this picture may have been inspired by a Japanese woodcut.
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