Using Chern's method of transgression, the Euler class of a compact orientable Riemann–Finsler space is represented by polynomials in the connection and curvature matrices of a torsion-free connection. When using the Chern connection (and hence the Christoffel–Levi–Civita connection in the Riemannian case), this result extends the Gauss–Bonnet formula of Bao and Chern to Finsler spaces whose indicatrices need not have constant volume.