[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Marianne, nearly 40 years old and mistress
of her own destiny, sets off on her travels.
She possesses a large fortune, and can do absolutely
as she pleases.
Finally, her rage to see the tropics is fulfilled.
Marianne's gateway to the globe begins in America.
Her horizons are magnified.
She's enchanted by grand, giant trees,
and the breathtaking Niagara Falls.
She visits a dozen countries in just six years,
always on the move, always painting, and always
a lone traveler.
Unlike our click-easy vacations, traveling 150 years ago
was difficult and dangerous.
Marianne would have easily spent up to two years
at sea, enduring cramped, unsanitary conditions,
violent storms, and severe sickness.
It's seen as an unsuitable pursuit for the weaker sex,
unless one has what were called "letters of introduction."
SPEAKER: Marianne's letters of introduction
were absolutely vital for her to be in the kind of experiences
that she had.
NARRATOR: These letters operated like a 19th century
social network that connected British upper classes
around the empire.
SPEAKER: It ensured that she was introduced
to a lot of intellectual ideas, scientific thoughts,
and challenging debates--
many things that other women simply
didn't encounter at that time.
NARRATOR: But it isn't the chance
to rub shoulders with high society that
really excites her.
What she wants is to paint in the most far-flung places
on Earth.
[MUSIC PLAYING]