Another major theme in Toulouse-Lautrec's work is the other side of the nightlife, that is, the maisons closes: the brothels of Paris. Lautrec felt like an outsider in the bourgeois and moralistic society of the era, and even lived for a time in these houses of ill repute. Additionally, as the art critic Maria Cionini Visani observes, "For Toulouse-Lautrec, living in the houses of rue d'Amboie or rue de Moulins, or viciously self-destructing through the use of alcohol, was akin to Gauguin's or Rimbaud's voyages to exotic faraway lands: not attracted by the adventure of the unknown, but repulsed by how much was knownin their worlds". Lautrec chooses an unsentimentalized depiction of the brothels and their prostitutes, but also refrains from personal comment, expressing no judgment on the situation. This is perhaps what most scandalized his contemporaries, and strikes us as most modern. The theme of prostitution was certainly nothing new in art, and many nineteenth-century writers had also seen fit to explore the topic: we might consider Goncourt's La Fille Elisa, Zola's Nana, Huysman's Martheand, above all, The Lady of the Camelliasby Alexandre Dumas fils, who also coined the term "demi-monde". What caused a scandal around Lautrec's work, rather than the subject matter itself, was the way it was represented: he accepted prostitution as one of the many facts of life and depicted its world with dignity, without shameor ostentation, and certainly without sentimentalism. Lautrec presented the world of the maisons closes as it was, without idealizing or degrading the prostitutes, but instead sharing in their humanity. The prostitutes immortalized in Toulouse-Lautrec's works do not shrink from our gaze, nor do they attempt to seduce us. They carry themselves with a natural, immediate directness, without shame or false modesty.They are captured in their intimate, everyday normality, as they comb their hair, wait for clients, put their shoes on or remove their shirts.In some works, with immense sensitivity, Lautrec even explores the homosexual relationships between many of the girls in the brothels, weary of satisfying the sexual urges of degraded, degrading clients. Ignoring the indignant moralizers who accused him of being depraved, the artist unequivocally sings the praises of these beautiful and authentic love stories.It is precisely in these depictions of lesbian relationships that Lautrec's psychological depth becomes fully apparent.His eye never becomes the "male gaze" which sees women only as sexual objects - quite the contrary, men are absent from these works dedicated to prostitutes. A client's presence will be signaled only by secondary details, such as a hat left on a chair, or a revealing shadow. The series Elles, dedicated to "them", is the finest example of Lautrec's sensitivity. And although strongly influenced by the Japanese master Utamaro's Shunga - erotic art prints - the works never descend into voyeurism, choosing instead to depict the prostitutes as ordinary women.