Who's afraid of Rosa Bonheur?

This morning, as I was going to see an exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, I asked where I could see Rosa Bonheur's works.

They are in the reserve was the answer....As I know that most of her paintings are in the reserve of the Château de Fontainebleau, That there are no books about her to be found... The only exhibition she ever had in France was in Bordeaux, where she was born, years ago,and the catalogue has disappeared too...

So, if you don't go to her house in Thomery near Fontainebleau, it's impossible to see her paintings!

When you think that she was the best know French painter in the states in the 19th century, it's almost incredible!

And she was an extraordinary woman, who lived in communion with her animals, sleeping with her lion, wearing trousers althought it was forbidden to women, living with her female lovers at a time when it was not exactly fashionable. Thanks to her, the village of Thomery was the first village in France having electricity in the houses, as she offered it to the villagers.

And her painting? Mighty, extraordinarily precise, enormous. Not a delicate painting you would expect from a woman...

But no-one can see those paintings.... they are hidden....

Who's afraid of Rosa Bonheur????