Rosa Bonheur. The Spirit of Animals

The spirit of animals

Rosa Bonheur. The Spirit of Animals is the first exhibition by this artist to be shown in the Netherlands. The exhibition focuses on Bonheur’s love of animals and her detailed working method.

Landscape studies, drawings, oil sketches and sculptures show the way Bonheur worked. These works connect to the collection of Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, who collected a variety of loosely drawn or painted works by fellow artists.

Spirit and Soul

Bonheur lived on an estate near the forest of Fontainebleau. There, she kept a range of animals, including sheep, dogs, horses, birds, monkeys and lions. She believed that animals have souls, which was a progressive view at the time.

To become familiar with her subjects, she made numerous sketches and studies before she started work on her large paintings. She aimed to depict the animals as objectively as possible, while simultaneously penetrating the enigma of their souls. This is how Bonheur developed a unique style with which she expressed the animals’ power and free spirits.

Who Was Rosa Bonheur?

Rosa Bonheur was an independent woman who led an unconventional life, especially by nineteenth-century standards. She lived with her partner Nathalie Micas, and later with the American artist Anna Klumpke. Bonheur is now considered to be one of the forerunners of feminism.

She was the first woman to be appointed Officer of the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest award. In the twentieth century, she was forgotten by the general public, but in recent years her work has been appreciated again.