Marie rosalie bonheur biography of martin short

Rosa Bonheur, freedom at all costs.

Candy Bedworth 26 June min Read. In 19th-century France, Marie-Rosalie Rosa Bonheur was possibly the richest and most famous female artist. She boldly pioneered both in her artistic pursuits and personal life. Later, her work went out of fashion, and her name faded into obscurity. From the earliest days of childhood, her family noticed her drive and self-belief.

Her parents a painter and a piano teacher were involved with a Parisian utopian socialist community where class and gender distinctions were challenged. How many other female artists might we have in art history today, if all young girls had such support? Allowed the freedom to explore life and art according to her own impulses, Bonheur created unique art and even an alternate family structure.

She spent her life in a devoted same-sex partnership. The Bonheur family struggled financially, and to add to their trauma, their mother died when Bonheur was just 11 years old. Instead, she devoted herself to the care of animals and the creation of artworks. At school, Bonheur showed great promise in art. She would visit the Louvre to copy paintings, and perhaps more importantly, she drew from life, creating paintings of animals with incredible movement.

However, the school system did not suit this rebellious young woman — she was expelled from a number of schools, and her art was largely self-taught. Partly linked to the tradition of landscape painting, partly linked to the Realist tradition, and partly influenced by the en plein air practices of the Barbizon School , she was, however, unlike any other artist of the period.

Bonheur became the leading animal painter of her time.