Bordeaux Musée des Beaux-Arts: The Bonheur Wing's 19th-Century Masterpieces

The Bonheur Wing of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux showcases modern and contemporary art, with highlights including Rosa Bonheur's monumental unfinished painting 'Wheat Threshing in the Camargue' (313 x 651 cm), Henri Gervex's scandalous 'Rolla' (rejected from the 1878 Salon for indecency), Eugène Delacroix's fire-damaged 'The Lion Hunt' (commissioned by Napoleon III for the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition), and William Bouguereau's 'The Day of the Dead' (exhibited at the 1859 Salon). The wing is named after Bordeaux-born Rosa Bonheur, the first female artist awarded the Legion of Honour in 1865. Delacroix's painting lost its upper third in a fire at Bordeaux's town hall on December 7, 1870. Odilon Redon's copy preserves the missing section. The museum also displays Rubens' 'The Tiger Hunt' (1618), which influenced Delacroix. Eugène Buland's 'The Heirs' (1887) won a second-place medal at the Salon. Deputy curator Chloé Theault oversees the 19th/20th-century collections.