This post may contain affiliate links.
If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission.
yo readour disclosurefor more info.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please readour disclosurefor more info.
But what about the women who have helped shape the world’s visual history?
A look at some of the great female artists of the past is also a timeline of art history.
Women have been leading figures in every artistic movement from the Italian Renaissance to American Modernism and beyond.
“Three Children with a Dog” by Sofonisba Anguissola. circa 1570-1590. (Photo:Wikimedia, Public domain)
If you’re an art lover, here are 14 famous female artists that you better know.
Sofonisba Anguissola (15321625)
Three Children with a Dog by Sofonisba Anguissola.
(Photo:Wikimedia, Public domain)
PainterSofonisba Anguissolawas a trailblazer during theItalian Renaissance.
“Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting” by Artemisia Gentileschi. 1638–39. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
This included apprenticeships with respected local painters.
Judith Leyster (16091660)
The Happy Couple by Judith Leyster.
Typical of Dutch artists during this period, Leyster specialized in genre paintings,still life, and portraits.
“The Happy Couple” by Judith Leyster. 1630. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
While she was quite successful during her lifetime, her reputation suffered after her death due to unfortunate circumstances.
Her entire oeuvre was passed off as work either by her contemporary Frans Hals or by her husband.
As a young woman, she also trained in Italy where her historical paintings and portraits were well received.
Angelica Kauffman, “Self-Portrait Hesitating Between the Arts of Music and Painting,” 1791 (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Aside from her popular portraits of aristocratic sitters, the artist depicted many classical and allegorical scenes.
She was a prominent figure among her contemporary Neoclassical painters in the late 18th century.
Her paintings bridge the gap between the theatricalRococo styleand the more restrainedNeoclassical period.
“Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat” by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. 1782. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
Sitters enjoyed her ability to put them at ease, which led toportrait paintingsthat were lively and lacking stiffness.
Rosa Bonheur (18221899)
The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur.
(Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
Like many female artists,Rosa Bonheurs father was a painter.
“The Horse Fair” by Rosa Bonheur. 1852–55. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
She exhibited regularly at the acclaimed Paris salon and found success abroad in both the United States and Britain.
Bonheur is also celebrated for breaking gender stereotypes.
From the mid-1850s onward she wore men’s dress, even obtaining police authorization to do so.
“Lady at her Toilette” by Berthe Morisot. 1875. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
Berthe Morisot (18411895)
Lady at her Toilette by Berthe Morisot.
Born into an aristocratic French family, she was the great-niece of celebratedRococopainterJean-Honore Fragonard.
Her art often focused on domestic scenes and she preferred working with pastels, watercolor, and charcoal.
“The Child’s Bath” by Mary Cassatt. 1893. (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
Working mainly in a small scale, her light and airy work was often criticized as being too feminine.
Mary Cassatt (18441926)
The Child’s Bath by Mary Cassatt.
Cassatt was born into an affluent family who first protested against her desire to become an artist.
Hilma af Klint, “Svanen (The Swan),” c. 1914 (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Cassatt’s career was already taking off when she joined the Impressionists and forged a lifelong friendship withDegas.
However, even Af Klint understood that the world wasnt ready for her work.
Ultimately, her groundbreaking artwork remained unseen until 1986.
She believed spirits could communicate with the living and began participating in seances.
While making contact with the dead, she took detailed notes and practiced automatic drawing.
Over the next nine years, Af Klint was consumed by this mission.
She completedThe Paintings for the Temple, a large series of 193 works that encompasses several smaller themes.
Series I White & Blue Flower Shapes, 1919.
Oil on board, 19 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches.
Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation.
During her lifetime, her career was intertwined with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz.
It’s a concept that the artist has always denied, though her work is undoubtedly sensual.
O’Keeffe spent much of her career combatting her art’s interpretation solely as a reflection of her gender.
Many of her late works were inspired by her home and ranch in New Mexico.
There, in the Southwest, O’Keeffe claimed to have found her spiritual home.
Frida Kahlo (19071954)
Autorretrato con collar de espinas.
She began her extensive exhibition career in 1952, with the display of her paintingMountains and Sea.
Her paintings featured colorful, organic shapes.
In the early years of her career, these compositions tended to be centralized on the canvas.
By the 1960s, Frankenthaler’s works often encompassed the entire canvas.
Her six-decades-worth of work displays a constant evolution in style.
The result of this soak stain method was an almost watercolor-like appearance with color built-in organic layers.
Today, her abstract paintings can be found in most major American art museums.
In 1954, she returned to Illinois to obtain her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Art Education.
However, in 1958 she returned to Paris with funding for her artwork from a Fulbright.
Over the years, she developed an allegorical style across several mediums.
Her work oftenfeatures the human bodyoften incorporating her own imagined hands into the work.
Although Frank passed away in 2019, Leaf still creates.
In a 2016 interview withWomen’s Wear Daily, she described her work as a process of searching.
She said, Maybe I dont want public acclaim.
I want to survive with that integrity that is so precious to me.
