Musée des Beaux-Arts

The evolution of occidental art from the Renaissance to the mid-20th century is on view at Bordeaux’ Museum of Fine Arts (musba-bordeaux.fr; adult/child €6/free), which occupies two wings of the 1770s-built Hôtel de Ville, either side of elegant city park Jardin de la Mairie. Entering the Landscapes & Animal Painting room in the North Wing of the museum, it's impossible not to be blown away by the monumental painting of white Camargue horses. This – La foulaison du blé en Camargue (Treading Wheat in the Camargue; 1899) – was the last (unfinished) painting by Bordelaise painter Rosa Bonheur (1822–99), one of France's earliest and most celebrated female artists, who dared wear trousers when she worked. Don't miss the portrait of Bordeaux's original rebel in her studio in 1893, showing her doing just this.