Rosa Bonheur werd op 16 maart 1822 geboren in Bordeaux. Ze was de dochter van een pianiste en een landschap- en portretschilder. De familie Bonheur vestigde zich in 1828 in Parijs. Ze kreeg haar eerste lessen van haar vader. Rosa bestudeerde het werk van Nicolas Poussin en Peter Paul Rubens in het Louvre. Ook werkte ze in de abattoirs en ontleedde ze dieren in het veterinair instituut in Parijs.

Rosa Bonheur brak in 1848 door op de Salon in Parijs. Een jaar later kocht de Franse overheid het schilderij 'Ploegen in Nivernais'. Haar meest bekende werk is 'De Paardenmarkt', die plaatsvond op de Boulevard de l'Hôpital. Bonheur voltooide dat werk in 1855.

Rosa was ook een open lesbienne. Zij woonde meer dan veertig jaar samen met Nathalie Micas. Na haar overlijden kreeg ze een relatie met de Amerikaanse schilderes Anna Klumpke. Rosa Bonheur overleed op 25 mei 1899 op 77-jarige leeftijd in Thomery in het departement Seine-et-Marne.

Rosa en Nathalie 1888
Rosa en Anna 1898

Painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899) led a highly nontraditional life, especially for a woman in the nineteenth century. She kept lions as pets, was awarded the Legion of Honor by Empress Eugénie, and befriended “Buffalo Bill” Cody. She became a painter at a time when women were often only reluctantly educated as artists. Her unconventional artistic work habits, including visiting slaughterhouses to sketch an animal’s anatomy and wearing men’s clothing to gain access to places like a horse fair, where women were not allowed, helped her become one of the most beloved female painters of her time.

Rosa Bonheur was the very antithesis of the feminine ideal of 19th-century society. She was educated, she shunned traditional 'womanly' pursuits, she rejected marriage - and she wore trousers. But the society whose rules she spurned accepted her as one of their own, because of her genius for painting animals.
She shared an intimate relationship with the eccentric, self-styled inventor Nathalie Micas, who nurtured the artist like a wife. Together Rosa, Nathalie and Nathalie's mother bought a chateau and with Rosa's menagerie of animals the trio became one of the most extraordinary households of the day.

Rosa Bonheur's Studio

Since May 25, 1899, time has stopped in Rosa Bonheur’s studio.

Everything is still there…

Her embroidered blouse, her hat, her boots, her palettes, her paintbrushes, her colors, her notebooks of sketches or notes, even her cigarette butts… The smell of turpentine mingles with the artist’s violet perfume...

In focus: Rosa Bonheur