The Pyrenees 1879

Curator: Look at this landscape of the Pyrenees by Rosa Bonheur, created in 1879. Editor: What a restful scene, yet so grand. The mountains seem to cradle these little figures, human and animal alike. I feel a quiet serenity looking at it. Curator: Bonheur was known for her remarkable ability to depict animals with realism and sensitivity. What interests me particularly is how the presence of the working animals here places them, not in a purely idyllic or romantic setting, but firmly within a working landscape. Their labor enables traversal, trade, maybe smuggling. Editor: Precisely, and their quiet rest speaks volumes. The weariness of travel. But also companionship. There's that donkey scratching its head on the other. Delightful. And the painter! She must have carried her heavy equipment, easels and oils, out to some spot not easily reached by train! Curator: Exactly, she was dedicated to plein-air painting, meaning she created much of this work outdoors. That makes this scene, captured in oils, all the more grounded and immediate. Bonheur was also somewhat notorious, dressing in men's clothing to work freely. Editor: A kindred spirit! The air smells clear, and you can imagine the wind whipping past. It's interesting how her rebellious personal choices contrast, maybe complement, this quite conventional subject matter. She loved animals, farms and forests all her life and made them famous too. I find the color palette limited, but that adds to the sense of altitude, air and harsh landscape. Curator: I appreciate your noticing the relatively restrained use of color, almost monochrome when one considers the conventions of landscape painting at the time. And yes, her life and art certainly reflect a powerful determination, bending conventions of artistic and social production in the name of realism. Editor: It really lets us pause and reflect on the scale of nature against the simple, grounded lives we inhabit within it. What a moment!