Two young female lovers are locked in a passionate clinch, their limbs tangled together amid swirling, sea-blue bed sheets. This 1892 painting is one of four by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec depicting intimacy between two women in a maison close (brothel) – stolen moments of tenderness captured with deep sensitivity. They are part of the French painter, printmaker and illustrator’s long exploration of Paris’ demi-monde, which saw him paint as many as 70 pictures of prostitutes. There’s an empathy and sensuality to the way he captures this couple, as if he is using the ocean-like bedsheets to protect their forbidden love from the outside world.