The Horse Fair

Rosa Bonheur

1852-55

The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur, 1852-55

Rosa Bonheur spent months sketching at the Paris horse market just to capture this chaotic energy, even getting special police permission to wear men's trousers so she wouldn't be harassed! The result is a muscular, thundering scene of rearing white and brown horses that feels loud enough to hear the hooves pounding the dirt. It was a radical move for a woman in the 1850s to paint such a rugged subject on such a massive scale, proving her skill as a master of Realism and becoming one of the most famous animal paintings in history.

Technique
Oil on canvas
Material
Canvas

Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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