Quotes

I became an animal painter because I loved to move among animals.

As far as males go, I only like the bulls I paint.

Art is a tyrant. It demands heart, brain, soul, body. The entireness of the votary.

If we don’t always understand animals, they always understand us.

The eye— is it not the mirror of the soul in all living creatures?

Work, always work, is the only way to achieve anything.

The epics of our time are to be found in the fields.

My inspiration is drawn from the truth of nature.

Why shouldn't I be proud to be a woman? My father told me again and again that it was woman's mission to improve the human race.

I am convinced that the future is ours.

The point of departure must always be a vision of the truth. The brush must sincerely reproduce what it sees.

But the suit I wear is my work attire, and nothing else.

I know nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else but my art.

To understand them, I must be close to them.

Animals are the most honest friends one can have.

Mademoiselle Rosa paints almost like a man.

She has shown rural labour with the simplicity of truth.

One sees in her work the observations of a naturalist and the hand of a master.

Rosa Bonheur was one of the most famous female artists of the nineteenth century and widely regarded as the greatest animal painter of her generation.

Her precocious talent, unconventional lifestyle and love of animals make her one of the most radical artists of the nineteenth century.

Rosa Bonheur was the most celebrated female painter of her century.

She broke barriers not only in art but in how a woman could live her life.

Her work combines extraordinary observation with intense empathy.

She achieved success unmatched by almost any other woman artist of her time.

Few artists have painted animals with such vitality, intelligence, and respect.

Her realism was not cold description but a celebration of living nature.

Bonheur’s dedication to her craft bordered on the monastic.

Her fame was such that she became a household name across Europe and America.

No other woman artist of the nineteenth century enjoyed such international celebrity.

Her life was a declaration of independence, both artistic and personal.