Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Wikipedia
He initially only drank beer and wine, but his tastes expanded into hard liquor, namely absinthe.[23] The Earthquake cocktail (Tremblement de Terre) is attributed to Toulouse-Lautrec: a potent mixture containing half absinthe and half cognac in a wine goblet.[24] Due to his underdeveloped legs, he walked with the aid of a cane, which he hollowed out and kept filled with liquor in order to ensure that he was never without alcohol.[15][25]
In addition to his growing alcoholism, Toulouse-Lautrec also frequented prostitutes.[23] He was fascinated by their lifestyle and the lifestyle of the "urban underclass" and incorporated those characters into his paintings.[26] Fellow painter Édouard Vuillard later said that while Toulouse-Lautrec did engage in sex with prostitutes, "the real reasons for his behavior were moral ones ... Lautrec was too proud to submit to his lot, as a physical freak, an aristocrat cut off from his kind by his grotesque appearance. He found an affinity between his own condition and the moral penury of the prostitute."
