Women in Art

and Women Artists

Sofonisba Anguissola

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Frida Kahlo

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Lady Dai

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Lady K'abal Xook

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Artemisia Gentileschi

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Queen Elizabeth I

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Eleanora di Toledo

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Lady Sak K'uk'

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Sofonisba Anguissola • Frida Kahlo • Lady Dai • Lady K'abal Xook • Artemisia Gentileschi • Queen Elizabeth I • Eleanora di Toledo • Lady Sak K'uk' •

A painting depicting two women in dramatic lighting, one holding a sword. The woman in the foreground is gesturing with her hand, while the other looks up at her. There's a lit candle and a book on a table behind them. The painting has a gold ornate frame.

Highlighting the role of women in art and women artists from prehistory to the present moment

Newly Published Videos

The Ancient World

c. 3000 BCE–500 CE

Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), 2nd century BCE, silk, 205 x 92 x 47.7 cm, found in Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province. Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha.

VIDEO: Lady Dai's Funeral Banner and Tomb in Ancient China

a suit made of jade and golden thread.

COMING SOON: Dou Wan’s Jade Burial Suit

Discover more about the Ancient World

The Medieval World

c. 500–1500 CE

Women in the Ancient Maya World

Ancient carved stone panel with intricate designs displayed in a museum exhibit.

A stela of Maya Queen, Ix Mutal Ahaw

A relief sculpture shows a woman holding a bowl with a serpent rising behind her

Lady Ik' Skull / Lady Eveningstar of Yaxchilán

A green mask of a woman covers her face

The Red Queen of Palenque / Lady Ix Tz'akbu Ajaw

Ancient stone carving depicting two human figures, one taller with a headdress and holding a staff, the other shorter and kneeling, with detailed geometric patterns surrounding them.

Bloodletting and Lady K'abal Xook from Yaxchilán

Ancient stone carvings depicting a dragon-like creature, humans, and other symbolic figures with elaborate details and patterns.

More about Lady K'abal Xook (Xoc)

an oval relief sculpture shows a woman handing a feathered crown to a man on a throne

Lady Sak K’uk’ of Palenque, queen and Pakal’s mother

Discover more about the ancient Maya world

Women in Medieval Europe

A medieval illuminated manuscript illustration depicting crowned women, two in red and two in blue. One woman in blue is exchanging a book, while another cuts and shapes bricks outside a brick wall.

COMING SOON: Christine de Pizan and the Book of the City of Ladies

Discover more about the ancient Maya world

The Early Modern Period

c. 1500–1800 CE

A classical painting depicting a woman in a Renaissance-style dress holding a small unicorn. The woman is sitting in front of an outdoor backdrop with pillars and a landscape view. The painting is framed in an ornate, gold-colored frame.

Europe

Rapahel's Lady with a Unicorn and female portraiture

Baroque painting depicting two women, one holding a sword and another wearing a headscarf, near a lit candle on a table.

Adding drama to painting: Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith

Francis Delaram, Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1618, engraving, published in Baziliwlogia: A Booke of Kings (London, 1618). Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, holding a scepter

Still life painting of assorted fruits including apples, pears, peaches, grapes, and melons arranged on a table in front of a dark background.

Fede Galizia and Still-Life Painting

A framed still life painting of a vibrant bouquet of various flowers in a dark vase, with a background featuring classical columns and architectural elements, mounted on a green wall.

Rachel Ruysch and Still-Life Painting

Painting of a woman with a lace collar, holding a painter's brush, with another painter in the background.

Self-portraiture and Judith Leyster

portrait of eleanora di toledo with her young son

Eleanora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence

Discover more about early modern Europe
Miguel Cabrera, Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, c. 1750, oil on canvas. Museo Nacional de Historia, Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico

North America

Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun, Author, Genius

a woman looks at us wearing a floral crown and veil

Crowned nuns: Portrait of Mother Ana María of the Precious Blood of Christ

Portrait of a woman in 18th-century attire sitting with hands resting on her lap, framed in an ornate gold frame, against a background of draped fabric.

COMING SOON: Portrait of Doña María de la Luz Padilla y Gómez y Cervantes, by Miguel Cabrera

Discover more about the Americas

The Modern Era

c. 1800–present

The Americas

La Casa Azul, Coyoacán, Mexico City. Now, the Museo Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo's Blue House (La Casa Azul)

Leonora Carrington, Self-Portrait, c. 1937–38, oil on canvas, 25 9/16 × 32 in. (65 × 81.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Close looking at Leonora Carrington's Self-Portrait

An abstract painting in warm colors like yellow that is Olga Albizu's 900-50-80

Looking closely at Olga Albizu's 900-50-80

A stylized portrait of an elderly woman wearing a large hat with a textured band, depicted in a woodcut style with bold black lines and yellow highlights.

Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper

Illustration of a Siamese cat lying on its back on a red and patterned background. The cat has blue eyes, dark points on ears, face, paws, and tail, and white fur on the body.

COMING SOON: Beth van Hoesen, Bugs

Painting depicting three women in medieval attire, a dove, a landscape with trees, hills, and fields, and sunset lighting.

Leonora Carrington, Kitchen Garden on the Eyot

A surreal painting of a glowing, angelic figure with fiery hair walking down a corridor lined with shadowy, featureless faces. The figure is draped in golden robes, holding a small object emitting smoke, and surrounded by a luminous aura.

COMING SOON: Remedios Varo, The Call

Colorful still life painting of various watermelons, some sliced open showing red flesh and black seeds, on a dark surface with a blue sky background. Some watermelons have a note with the words "VIVA LA VIDA" and additional Spanish writing.

Frida Kahlo, Viva la Vida

Europe

White leaf skeletons of Bryopsis plumosa on a blue background with the scientific name label at the bottom.

COMING SOON: Anna Atkins, cyanotype of algae

Asia

A smiling sun appears next to a blue mountain with running red lava, which is a print by Yayoi Kusama called Where the Universe and Human Life Are

Close looking at Yayoi Kusama, Where the Universe and Human Life Are

Discover more about the modern world
A traditional Japanese print depicting two figures seated on the tatami mat, engaged in conversation inside a room with sliding paper doors, a bonsai tree, and scrolls with Japanese calligraphy on the walls.

Suzuki Harunobu, Osen and Ofuji

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