the horse fair
Power in Motion
The horses circle, rear, resist, and crowd against one another. Handlers pull at reins and struggle to maintain control. Rosa Bonheur organized all this confusion into a sweeping procession that moves relentlessly from left to right.
The scene is the horse market on Paris’s Boulevard de l’Hôpital. For approximately eighteen months, Bonheur visited twice each week to study the animals and their handlers. She later described the monumental composition as her own “Parthenon frieze.”
Bonheur’s original measures more than sixteen feet across. It appeared at the Paris Salon of 1853 and became the painting that established her international fame. Today it is one of the best-known works in the Metropolitan Museum’s European collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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The Horse Fair, by Rosa Bonheur
Oil on canvas
Original 1852-1855Reproduction1987-88
France
One of the greatest animal paintings in history by the first world renowned female artist.
After Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899). Reproduction after the original of 1852-55
Detail from The Horse Fair, capturing some of the energy and power of horses.
She knew animals - inside and outTo visit the horse market each week, Rosa Bonheur received a special permit from the city of Paris that allowed her to dress in men's clothing, including trousers. She used these visits, along with others to farms, slaughterhouses, and veterinary offices, to learn about animals' physiology.
Look again
Notice how the pale horses emerge from the darker crowd. Bonheur used their twisting bodies, flying manes, lifted hooves, and overlapping forms to create motion without showing a single fixed moment.
Waikoloa’s reproduction is not an exact duplicate. Its unknown painter simplified the background and removed several figures, spectators, and horses from the original’s right side. The result places even greater emphasis on the white horses at the center of the painting.
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Tablet tours
The Horse Fair appears in the following tablet programs:
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keiki connection
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More Horses after the Hong Kong WaterfrontTap or click on the image to go.
