The Horse Fair

The Horse Fair painted by Rosa Bonheur is a beautiful painting that really gives off an immense amount of energy and a sense of the men in the painting trying to gain control over their horses. You can see the energy in this painting through the horse’s movement, lack of detail, and the dramatic coloring. You can tell the men in this painting are trying hard to keep the horses under control with the movement they have, and the positions their body’s take show they are trying to gain control over the group of horses.

Some of the horses in this painting are being cooperative with their riders…technically groomsmen, while others are rearing up and rebelling. The angles that the horses make with their necks and legs are all over the board in many different angles. They drag your eyes quickly across the canvas. Ridged edges, sprawling hair of the horse’s manes, and the dirt flying up in the painting all give the feel of extreme movement.  It is very apparent during this moment it was very chaotic, and unorganized. But your eyes get mostly drawn toward the middle of the painting, where a black and a white horse are both rearing up. They are taller than all the other horses, and their position has their back legs crouched down as if they were going to leap and their front legs kicking into the air. There is just energetic feel emerging off them.

The lack of detail on some of the features that were in the midst of moving, such as the rider on the black horse in the center of the painting, really allows the movement to look real and fast. The lack of detail, the quick shading and coloring make this painting look as if it was done in the moment. The coloring in this painting also contributes to the energy coming off of this painting. With the dark shaded areas of the painting, and the highlights really give a dramatic tone to the painting. It makes the movement much more believable, and allows the painting to grab your emotions and wrap them into the energetic and chaotic feel of the painting.  The rustic, de-saturated coloring of the painting adds a very realist feel. The colors look very natural and allow the painting to seem like Bonheur was really there when this all went down. Looking so naturalistic with the coloring, allows all the movements to look very natural too.

The men are clearly trying to gain control and order over the horses, and it is not working out that great for them. It seems there is a battle between the men and horses over who is in control; some of the horses are broke, while the others who are not broke are struggling against the men. You can see the straining muscles of the horses and they rear up, pull forward and try to escape the men’s hold on them. They are throwing their heads against the reigns and pulling away. You can see the men straining to keep hold of the horses. The muscles on their forearms are budging; some are sitting on the horse in a position that will keep them on a horse when it rears, and some of them are trying to calm their horse during all the excitement by gently walking them, and petting them.

Overall there are so many different things going on in this painting, it brings a buzz of activity and movement. The positions of the people and horses are not positions that are held, they are in the moment natural reactions. They don’t slowdown, or pause. This painting is very energetic, and really shows the ‘battle’ that is happening between the horses and the men.