5 Fast Facts: Rosa Bonheur

Blog Category:  5 Fast Facts
A large group of animals is herded by two shepherds on a grassy hill above the ocean. Black, tan, and red bulls crowd small white sheep with curled horns. The animals move nervously, their coats blowing in the wind. Clouds in the background suggest an impending storm.
October 26, 2022
10/26/22

Impress your friends with five fast facts about Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899), whose work is represented in NMWA’s collection. This year, we are celebrating the bicentenary of her birth. During our extensive building renovation, see Sheep by the Sea while it’s on loan at the Baltimore Museum of Art through summer 2023.

A flock of sheep rest on a grassy hill by a rocky shoreline in a landscape painting. In the center, two adults and a lamb lie in a group. The sky contains distant rolling clouds over the sea, which stretches to the horizon. A breeze is suggested by the waves crashing on rocks, and sunshine is shown through golden light and shadows around the sheep.
Rosa Bonheur, Sheep by the Sea, 1865; Oil on cradled panel, 12 3/4 x 18 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

1. Magnificent Menagerie

Rosa Bonheur kept many animals on her property in northern France, including sheep, horses, boars, dogs, and even lions. Her pet lioness, Fathma, is documented in several of her paintings beginning in 1859.

A large group of animals is herded by two shepherds on a grassy hill above the ocean. Black, tan, and red bulls crowd small white sheep with curled horns. The animals move nervously, their coats blowing in the wind. Clouds in the background suggest an impending storm.
Rosa Bonheur, The Highland Raid, 1860; Oil on canvas, 51 x 84 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

2. Pants Permitted

In a time when wearing pants was illegal for women, Bonheur petitioned the police for a “cross-dressing permit” to allow her to wear trousers. This enabled her to get up close and personal with animals in their environments, from fields and forests to butcher shops and slaughterhouses.

Three horses are grazing on the prairie. Their dark hair and their shadows on the ground stand in stark contrast to the lush green grass they are standing on.
Rosa Bonheur, Untitled, n.d.; Oil sketch on paper mounted on aluminum hexcel panel with fiberglass interleaf, 7 3/4 x 14 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Roma Crocker in honor of her children; Conservation funds generously provided by the Mississippi State Committee of NMWA; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

3. Queer Icon

Despite her traditional painting style, Bonheur led an unconventional personal life. She partnered and lived with artist Nathalie Micas (1824–1889) until Micas’s death, and then with artist Anna Klumpke (1856–1942). Bonheur is remembered by the French Ministry of Culture as a champion of the feminist and lesbian cause.

4. Royal Acclaim

Empress Eugénie of France awarded Bonheur the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1865, making her the first woman to receive the award. Bonheur was also a favorite artist of Queen Victoria, who attended a private viewing of her monumental painting The Horse Fair (1852–55) when it was exhibited in England.

 5. Visit the Studio

In 2017, Katherine Brault bought Bonheur’s small home and studio, the Château de By, which she preserved and opened as a museum. Visitors catch a glimpse into the artist’s life, seeing her clothes, sketchbooks, and paintings, and can even spend a night in her bedroom.

About the Author

—Michelle Koppl is the education assistant at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

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