Les Deux Amies

They say love knows no boundaries; love also knows no gender. Platonic love, romantic love, sexual love; love is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, polysexual, pansexual, asexual. Love is. Toulouse-Lautrec, drawn to Parisian nightlife and the red-light milieu throughout his life, is sometimes known today for his depictions of queer couples. Often portraying sex workers, his subjects were as revolutionary as they were controversial for the time. The two persons spend an intimate moment together; hidden between bales of hay, they are protected from the male gaze and the obligation that comes with it. Sex turns from mandatory to voluntary, from work to pleasure. The artist's careful and considerate treatment of those depicted, with whom he was often friends, breaks away from the traditionally objectified perspective and leads into a new century. Source