Toulouse-Lautrec's new home

As one of the world's most famous French artists, the mere mention of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec brings to mind images of Belle Époque Paris, the Moulin Rouge and the Can Can. His stylised images are immediately recognisable and highly appreciated by people around the world.

On April 2, visitors to the small town of Albi in southern France had the opportunity to explore his work and discover more about his eccentric personality with the opening of a new museum dedicated entirely to his career. The ambitious project has been ten years in the making and has seen an entire overhaul of all the spaces and facilities housed in the medieval Palais de la Berbie, which dates from 1265. Toulouse-Lautrec's work is now displayed in a setting which combines historic grandeur and cutting-edge technology. Nearly 1,000 works, including paintings, lithographs, drawings and theatre posters by the great French artist are on display, making the museum in Albi the largest collection of his works in the world.

Toulouse-Lautrec devoted himself entirely to art. In his short life — he died in 1901 aged 37 — he created a massive body of work, much of which is still adored today. Perhaps his most famous pieces are the posters for the nightclubs Le Chat Noir and the Moulin Rouge. Through his paintings, Toulouse-Lautrec became the quintessential chronicler of Paris in the Belle Époque era of the late 1890s.

His work immediately evokes the decadent atmosphere of Parisian nightlife. A true Bohemian, Toulouse-Lautrec lived in the Montmartre area of Paris surrounded by other artists, theatre and circus performers, and intellectuals. His nights were spent enjoying the colourful nightlife, which fuelled his artistic inspiration.

Through his prolific output of posters, theatre programmes and special-edition prints, Toulouse-Lautrec effortlessly managed to combine the excitement of the cabaret with the poignant and somewhat shadowy private lives of some of the performers and guests.

But while his posters have made him famous he was also a consummate portrait painter and immortalised the high society of the time. The Albi museum will display striking paintings of the actresses Aristide Bruant, Jane Avril and Yvette Guilbert who were part of the popular and rowdy theatre scene of the Parisian cabaret.

Physically, Toulouse-Lautrec was an unusual man. His legs were unusually short for his body due to a riding accident he suffered as a child and, with his dark beard and piercing black eyes, this aspect could be unnerving. Because of his physical oddity, or because it was in his nature, he was keen on, and had a profound understanding of, the way people present themselves. There is no artist who so completely understands that dress, make-up and gesture are part of an armoury which a woman dons to face the world. Looking at his portraits is like looking into the soul of the sitter.

Toulouse-Lautrec was a powerful artist. He was a shrewd observer of human physiognomy and behaviour. He was a draughtsman of economical force and originality, a painter of curt dynamism and a printmaker of remarkable innovation.

In admiring his art it is crucial to remember that his work was not created in a vacuum. It emerged from the social anxieties of late 19th-century France and specifically from within the self-consciously decadent culture of Montmartre. Toulouse-Lautrec was only one of many artists who contributed to the creation of this raucous and dynamic creative environment, but he was without doubt the strongest.

The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum is located right in the historic centre of Albi, a pretty town in the south of France, listed by Unesco for its historical importance and architectural gems. Many of the restored exhibition rooms within the Palais de la Berbie boast original elements such as 13th-century tiles, frescoes and high, vaulted ceilings.

Scott Adams is a writer based in Madrid.