The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur

There was one painting I saw last week at the MET that touched my soul so much it left me with a need to speak out: The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur.

Bonheur is the most famous female artist of the 19th century, and openly lesbian. I will not talk any further on that; instead, I want to draw your attention to her painting exhibited at the MET, the large-scale, oil-on-canvas The Horse Fair.

She is right at the center, the human figure is her self-portrait, and she is the only one, the only female in the portrait, who can control the horse without violence. Some of the other figures are in disarray, not knowing what to do beyond imposing violence on the horses.

The quote I have been thinking of in connection to this image is from Virginia Woolf. After the publication of Three Guineas, her reflections on the roots of war, Virginia was asked in one of the interviews: How in her opinion are we to prevent war?

Men make war. Men (most men) like war, since for men there is “some glory, some necessity, some satisfaction in fighting” that women (most women) do not feel or enjoy.

– Woolf as quoted by Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

When I was looking at this painting, I was struck by the image that the only person who could control the horse without violence was a woman.