Bodmer was an explorer as well as a painter and etcher. He was elected to the Legion of Honor in 1876.

In 1832 he was engaged by Prussian Prince Maximilian as an artist for an exploratory expedition to the American West. Bodmer painted Native Americans with painstaking care and detail, spending a whole day to complete a single watercolor portrait. His wildlife watercolors include a panorama of a great herd of buffalo descending to the river.