Toulouse-Lautrec's earliest works frequently depict members of his aristocratic family; when he began his formal artistic training in 1882, he painted professional models. Outside the art school environment, however, he chose the ordinary people in his Montmartre neighborhood as his subjects, Carmen Gaudin among them. The artist depicted her tough, guarded expression and thick red hair in several paintings, including the Clark's portrait and possibly also Waiting. Both works were painted in the studio, early in the artist's career, before Toulouse-Lautrec became immersed in Montmartre's nightlife, and their dark tones and relatively restrained brushwork demonstrate the influence of his traditional training.
