The Horse Fair

The Horse Fair is Rosa Bonheur’s monumental masterpiece, depicting the horse market held on the Boulevard de l’Hôpital in Paris. To paint it, Bonheur — already celebrated and independent — obtained police permission to sketch at the market dressed in men’s clothing. The painting’s thundering energy and meticulous anatomy made it an international sensation and a landmark in the history of both Realism and women in art. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.