The 100 women painters who changed art history

Understand before classifying

Another history of painting, finally visible

The artists in this ranking have never formed a single group. Some work for European courts, others exhibit at trade fairs, found an independent workshop, join impressionism or participate in ruptures in abstraction and surrealism. Their common point is less a style than a story of creation carried out despite long unequal institutions.

During the Renaissance, Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana transformed portraiture and obtained international recognition. In the 17th century, Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Clara Peeters and Rachel Ruysch established themselves in history painting, the genre scene and still life. The 19th century then saw the possibilities of exhibition and training expand, without removing obstacles.

It not only measures current fame: it also takes into account the rediscoveries that corrected the museum narrative.

Conquer

Create despite exclusion from academies and workshops

Access to the living model, competitions and large commissions has long conditioned the hierarchy of genres. To get around these barriers, many painters develop family networks, choose portraiture or still life, travel, open their own workshops and use self-portraiture as proof of their professional status.

Represent yourself

The self-portrait becomes a declaration of authority

From Catharina van Hemessen to Sofonisba Anguissola, from Artemisia Gentileschi to Frida Kahlo and Helene Schjerfbeck, painting means controlling one's image. The easel, the direct gaze and the tools of the trade affirm an identity as an artist that history has often tried to reduce to the muse or the model.

Transform

The avant-gardes can no longer be told without them

Morisot and Cassatt shift impressionism, Hilma af Klint anticipates abstraction, Popova and Exter build the Russian avant-garde, while Carrington, Varo, Fini and Tanning redefine surrealism. After 1945, Krasner, Mitchell, Frankenthaler, Martin, Thomas and Kusama in turn changed the scale and language of painting.

Browse the works

How the 100 artists were selected

The first ranks bring together figures whose recognition is now international. The following chapters broaden the perspective of court painters, still life specialists, impressionists, modernists from different national scenes and artists rediscovered by recent research.

The order does not claim to include five centuries in a definitive list. It offers a readable journey which combines influence, quality of works, historical importance, geographical diversity and the capacity to transform the possibilities offered to subsequent generations.

Links & Collections

The 1956 rule is applied to all files

For the 26 artists who died after 1956 or are still alive, both links lead to their French Wikipedia biography. No new collection has been created for the latter.

Twenty-two missing collections have been added for eligible artists in the second half of the ranking. They are published with an image and remain without products until a corresponding reproduction is available.

Choose a reproduction

Start with the look, color or atmosphere you are looking for

For a vivid portrait, explore Vigée Le Brun, Cassatt, Beaux, Schwartze or Biliÿnska-Bohdanowicz. For a narrative and dramatic presence, look at Gentileschi, Sirani, De Morgan or Kahlo. The landscapes of Anna Ancher, Harriet Backer, Emily Carr and Ellen Thesleff install a more meditative light, while Delaunay, Popova, Taeuber-Arp and Rozanova suit an interior constructed by color and rhythm.

Continue the discovery

Guides, collections and references