Why shouldnt I be proud to be a woman?
Besides, Im convinced the future is ours.
Learn all about Rosa Bonheur’s life and career with these facts about the forward-thinking artist.
Edouard Louis Dubufe, “Rosa Bonheur with Bull,” 1857(Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
She had a lifelong love of animals.
I became an animal painter because I loved to move among animals, she said.
She was more famous in the United Kingdom than in France.
Rosa Bonheur, “Toutou, the Beloved,” 1885(Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Rosa Bonheur, The Horse Fair, ca.
It put Bonheur’s name on the map and even led to a meeting with the Queen of England.
Queen Victoria wasn’t Bonheur’s only British fan.
Rosa Bonheur, “The Horse Fair,” ca. 1852–1855(Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
All three of her younger siblings were successful artists.
Although Rosa found the most all-around fame,all three of her younger siblings were successful artists.
Her brother Auguste and sister Juliette also became excellent animal painters with an interest in idyllic scenes.
Painting by Rosa Bonheur’s brother, Auguste.Auguste Bonheur, “Pasture Beside the Lake,” c. mid-1800s (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
And her brother Isidore was an accomplished animal sculptor, best known for his realistic bronze horses.
She had a permit to wear men’s clothing.
In 1800, the French prefecture issued an official decree stipulating that women were forbidden from wearing pants.
Rosa Bonheur and Natalie Micas in Nice, 1882( Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
She was the first woman to be deemed Officer of the Legion of Honor.
In 1865, she was the first female artist to be awarded the French Legion of Honor.
In 1894, she was the first woman to be promoted toOfficer of the Legion of Honor.
Rosa Bonheur, 1865, wearing the Legion of Honor(Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
This was the last major distinction she would receive until her death five years later.
Her house is now a museum.
Today, Bonheur’s legacy lives on through her paintings, which are housed in collections around the world.
Art is a tyrant, she said.
It demands heart, brain, soul, body.
The entireness of the votary.
Nothing less will win its highest favor.
It is my husband, my world, my life dream, the air I breathe.
I know nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else.
