Thanks to this access, Bonheur created around 50 paintings and sketches, including an equestrian portrait of Cody that she gifted to him in gratitude. The artist rarely painted people, but her depiction of Buffalo Bill became iconic. It was used in a publicity poster for the Wild West show a few years later. The poster depicts Bonheur at her easel between Cody and Napoleon Bonaparte, both regally seated on white horses. In the picture, Bonheur ignores the former French emperor and paints Cody instead.
Bonheur wasn’t alone in sketching the Wild West campgrounds.
visited Buffalo Bill’s show and drew Native American figures and horses. The artist was most impressed by the wilderness-loving persona of Buffalo Bill, though, and soon imitated his stylish combination of long hair and Stetson cowboy hat. Cody may have also inspired Gauguin to explore new frontiers
on his own.
“[I] walk about like a savage, with long hair,” Gauguin wrote the next summer from the French seaside town of Le Pouldu. “I have cut some arrows and amuse myself on the sands by shooting them just like Buffalo Bill.” He was still sporting this unruly hairdo when he voyaged to Tahiti in 1891, in order to live closer to nature. Among the items he brought with him across the globe was a Stetson, probably bought from one of the Exposition Universelle souvenir shops, where cowboy hats were among the most popular novelties.