View of La Mare aux fées
Currently on view
Rosa Bonheur (1822 - 1899), Fontainebleau, c. 1870
oil on canvas, 31 cm x 38 cm
Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Thanks to her great success as an artist, Bonheur was financially independent early on in her career. She bought a large chateau and a piece of the surrounding land in By, which was located on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest. There, she painted View of La Mare aux fées. In this painting she explored the effect of light filtering through the leaves onto the a tree trunk.
In many ways, Bonheur broke with the conventions of her time. She had short hair, often wore trousers and never married. She shared her life with women. For thirty years, she lived on her estate with her friend Nathalie Micas. After Micas’ death, Bonheur lived there with American artist Anna Klumpke. Bonheur never spoke about her sexual orientation, but then few people did at the time.
- Object number
- s0492S1999
- Dimensions
- 31 cm x 38 cm, 45 cm x 52.5 cm, 7.5 cm
- artist
- Rosa Bonheur
- Credits
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
The Hague, De Mesdag Collectie, Rosa Bonheur. De kracht van het dier, 20 September 2024-19 January 2025
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Corot: in het bos, 7 July-10 September 2017
Suijver, Renske, Tas, Sara, Buratti-Hasan, Sandra, Jarbouai, Leïla, Rosa Bonheur : bezield dierschilder, Zwolle, 2024, pp. 36, 38-39
Leighton, John, Heugten, Sjraar van, Stolwijk, Chris, Van Gogh Museum : a decade of collecting : acquisitions 1997-2006, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 36-37
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 73-74
Inhoudelijk jaarverslag 1999 : stichting Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 21
Esner, Rachel, Heugten, Sjraar van, Leighton, John, Blühm, Andreas, Tempel, Benno, Van Gogh Museum Journal 1999, Amsterdam, 1999, p. 133
Nineteenth and early Twentieth century drawings and oil sketches, London, 1998, [unpaged]