Outsiders: Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) was a French artist best known for her realist style paintings, mostly focused on animals and rural life in France and Europe. Rosa shattered conventions for women at the time, never marrying, wearing men's clothes, and always advocating for her work as being equal, if not better, than male artists. 

For Further Reading: 

• Art is a Tyrant: The Unconventional Life of Rosa Bonheur by Catherine Hewitt
• The Redemption of Rosa Bonheur
• Rich, Famous and Then Forgotten: The Art of Rosa Bonheur
• The Portrait That Forged a “Divine Marriage” Between Two 19th-Century Women Painters

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about outsiders, women who
marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected
stereotypes about what women should be. Their aesthetic pioneers, norm benders,
and often some of the only women in their fields.
In front of you is a portrait of a woman.

(00:23):
She's older, wears her hair short and sports clothing associated
with the men of her time. She holds the tools
of her trade in her hands, a paint rush paper,
a sketchbook, and in the background are her subjects cows,
horses and sheep, rendered in immaculate detail the picturesque textures
of French rural life. This is a portrait of today's subject,

(00:45):
known for both her realist style of paintings of animal
life and her shunning of nineteenth century female convention. Let's
take a look at the life of Rosa Bonneur. Rosa
was born in eighteen twenty two in Bordeaux to an
artist father and musician mother. The family moved to Paris

(01:08):
when she was young, as her father joined the utopian
socialist san Semonian movement. When she was just eleven, years old,
Rosa lost her mother. While Rosa's father did influence her
early entry into art, teaching her skills and encouraging her
to study and sketch at the Louver, Rosa was adamant
about her mother's influence on her work. Later on, Rosa noted,

(01:30):
everything good and beautiful I've done during my seventy six
years on this earth has been her inspiration. From a
young age, Rosa was drawn to animals and nature. She
quickly diverged from her father's artistic interests, mostly landscapes and portraits,
and began focusing on animal life at just nineteen years old.
She debuted her work at the Paris Salon of eighteen

(01:51):
forty one, with one painting of rabbits and a second
of goats and sheep. She continued to consistently show work
at the Salon with some minor success until eighteen forty eight.
That year, the newly created French Second Republic commissioned a
painting from Rosa. The result was her painting Plowing in
the Niburne, with its focus on plowing teams of cattle

(02:13):
in the French countryside. The work was aligned with both
the Second Republic's ideals as well as Rosa's artistic focus.
The work earned her a first class medal at the
Paris Salon. In eighteen fifty five, Rosa completed what's often
considered her master work, The Horse Fair. The eight foot
tall and more than sixteen foot wide painting depicts horses
in a frenzy at a market in Paris as men

(02:35):
struggle to bring them under control. While French museums and
collectors passed on buying the work, it brought in international
buyers and was even shown to Queen Victoria at a
private viewing. The painting was eventually purchased by American shipping
magnet Cornelius Vanderbilt in eighteen eighty seven for fifty three
thousand dollars that would be about one and a half

(02:55):
million dollars today. Soon, Rosa was able to purchase her
own home, named the Chateau de be about fifty miles
outside of Paris. There, Rosa was closer to the rural
life that she so often painted. She kept varied, sometimes
quite extravagant species of animals on the property, including lions, tigers,

(03:18):
and monkeys, and went on walks in nearby forests. She
shunned feminine standards of the time, even acquiring a cross
dressing permit, which allowed her to wear pants, as it
was restricted for women to do so in France at
the time. The chateau would be Rosa's home and studio
for the rest of her life. Purchasing the home was
a unique feat for a woman in the eighteen hundreds,

(03:40):
and Rosa also chose to live at the chateau with
her longtime companion, Natalie Mikas. Rosa and Natalie had met
his children when Rosa's father was commissioned to paint Natalie's portrait.
They were linked from then on, and Natalie often accompanied
Rosa on her travels. Once in the chateau, Natalie took
care of many of the household tasks while Rosa focused

(04:00):
on her artwork. Rosa never married. She wrote of the prospect,
I am not fit to be a wife. In the
common acceptance of that term, men must marry women who
have no absorbent no idol. Rosa and Natalie lived together
until Natalie's death in eighteen eighty nine. Though there's no
documented evidence of whether their relationship went beyond the platonic,

(04:22):
it was an essential part of Rosa's life. She shunned
convention to keep Natalie her close companion. After Natalie's death,
Rosa was left distraught and quite lonely. She sought out
a new companion in the younger American artist Anna clump Key.
Anna became Rosa's companion for the rest of her life
until Rosa passed in eighteen ninety nine at the age

(04:43):
of seventy seven. During her life, Rosa had become the
first woman to receive the Legion of Honor, a civil
order of merit from the French Republic. The Empress, when
rewarding Rosa the honor stated genius has no sex. Her
work reached far and wide. In her later year, she
created a series of paintings for Buffalo Bill. Rosa left

(05:04):
most of her estate to Anna, who tried to champion
her work. Ros's legacy started to fade with the rise
of Impressionism, but has been reignited in recent years. Rose's
chateau has been preserved and turned into a museum, and
her paintings have been exhibited across the globe at the
met in New York City, the National Gallery in London,
and on permanent display at the muse Doors in Paris.

(05:29):
All month we're talking about outsiders. For more information, find
us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special thanks
to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Talk
to you tomorrow