In terms of art museum shows, 2025 already has much to offer women artists from early modernity through the present. Here, though, we focus (almost) exclusively on art exhibitions about women artists from the Renaissance to about the mid-20th century. Keep checking back; we will update this page as museums announce new shows.
The shows are listed in order by opening date; thus, the list starts with those currently on view. As the exhibitions close, we will move the entries down to the “Past Exhibitions” section.
The Botanical World of Mary Delany
An offering of the British Museum Unseen series, this display encompasses high-resolution photography of some of Mary Delany’s most spectacular works and details the inspiration and drive behind her output, including her original technical process and the legacy she has left. The visually stunning images reveal Delany’s incredible precision in creating scientifically accurate representations of botanical specimens. Visitors are able to explore and appreciate the delicacy and skill that Delany employed, throughout her impressive oeuvre of work, which she only began at the age of 72. Alongside Delany’s “mosaicks,” visitors will encounter new sculptures by Rebecca Stevenson in the Great Hall; interactive origami room designed by York artist Kate Buckley; and abstract photography collages by York St John Fine Art student Amy Martina.
The Botanical World of Mary Delany; Beningbrough. September 10, 2024–March 23, 2025.
Anything but Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic
Anything but Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic, showcases the Shakers, a group often celebrated for their minimalist approach to design. The works are made by mid-19th-century women; they were believed to represent divine messages. The “gift” drawings on display represent a departure from the simplicity typically associated with Shaker material culture. The drawings are accompanied by biographical information on the women who made them. The context enriches visitors’ experience of these stunning objects with contextual understanding of their historical and spiritual meanings.
Anything but Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic; American Folk Art Museum. September 13, 2024–January 26, 2025.
Rosa Bonheur et les Fauves
The Château de Rosa Bonheur presents an unprecedented immersion in the artistic universe of a woman who knew how to capture the soul of lions, tigers and leopards. This fascinating retrospective brings together rare oils, drawings, prints and photographs. Some of the objects, from private collections, have never before revealed to the public. The exhibition is structured around several sections of Rosa Bonheur’s work. It first explores the artist’s creative process, from her preliminary studies to the final creation of her works, including her relationships with tamers and her scientific approach to animal ethology. Finally, it reveals Bonheur’s intimate universe, where the artist engages in careful observation of the daily life of wild animals.
Rosa Bonheur et les Fauves; Le Château de Rosa Bonheur. October 19, 2024–January 31, 2025.
Painted Dreams: The Art of Evelyn De Morgan
Painted Dreams revisits an historic 1907 show, reuniting several of Evelyn De Morgan’s most significant works in Wolverhampton. The original exhibition was a remarkable achievement. It challenged Victorian prejudices and the notion that being a professional artist was a male occupation and unsuitable for a woman of De Morgan’s class. Her ability to layer contemporary issues into mythological tales was well received. One reviewer for the Wolverhampton Express and Star described the pictures as “painted dreams.” By recreating De Morgan’s 1907 solo show as faithfully as possible, Painted Dreams highlights a career that has been historically overshadowed by her male contemporaries. The 30 artworks are displayed in chronological order to show the progression of De Morgan’s talent as an artist. The show presents De Morgan as a pioneering artist. Her exploration of new, challenging subjects delved into the fundamentals of human existence.
Painted Dreams: The Art of Evelyn De Morgan; Wolverhampton Art Gallery. October 19, 2024–March 9, 2025.
Roman Painters: Women artists in Rome between the 16th and 19th centuries
At the center of the exhibition are the many women artists who from the 16th to the 19th century made Rome their place of study and work. The protagonists are artists present in the Capitoline collections, such as Caterina Ginnasi, Maria Felice Tibaldi Subleyras, Angelika Kaufmann, Laura Piranesi, Marianna Candidi Dionigi, Louise Seidler and Emma Gaggiotti Richards. There is also a significant selection of other important artists active in the city. The latter group includes Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, Maddalena Corvina, Giovanna Garzoni, and many others whose corpus is being reconstructed in the research of recent decades. Through around 130 works, the exhibition itinerary describes the progressive inclusion of female painters in the international market.
Read Alessandra Masu‘s thoughts about the show here.
Roman Painters: Women artists in Rome between the 16th and 19th centuries; Museo di Roma. October 25, 2024–March 23, 2025.
Role Models: Women in the MdbK
The starting point and source of inspiration is the self-portrait of the American Impressionist Lilla Cabot Perry (1848–1933). This painting is on display at the MdbK as part of the Collection-in-Residence programme of the Terra Foundation, Chicago. The exhibition juxtaposes the depiction of female creative artistic work as gainful employment—Cabot Perry contributed significantly to the financial sustenance of her family of five—with different forms of artistic activity by women, each of which was characterized by specific social circumstances. Also among the featured artists are Rosa Bonheur and Elisabetta Sirani. The presentation carries forward the museum’s critical research initiatives into its own collection history. By taking an unbiased look at the stacks, it reveals insights into works that have been shown seldom, if ever.
Role Models: Women in the MdbK; Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. November 7, 2024–May 11, 2025.
Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury
As a significant contributor to Modern British art during the interwar years and an associate of the Bloomsbury Group, Dora Carrington (1893–1932) was described by former Tate Director Sir John Rothenstein as “the most neglected serious painter of her time.” Spanning paintings, drawings and prints from across her career, this exhibition reveals the continued relevance of Carrington’s unconventional life and remarkable work. It forms a powerful portrait of Carrington, exploring her defiance of gender norms and her circle of eminent friends.
Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury; Pallant House Gallery. November 9, 2024–April 27, 2025.
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art
During her lifetime, collectors sought after Rachel Ruysch’s magnificent, deceptively realistic floral still lifes with exotic plants and fruit, butterflies and insects. From November 2024 on the Alte Pinakothek will present the world’s first major monographic exhibition of her work. Discover the wondrous world of Rachel Ruysch between art and science, perfected fine painting and artistic freedom amid illustrious patrons in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, and Florence. The show is organized in cooperation with the Toledo Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It will be on display at each of these institutions during 2025.
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art; Alte Pinakothek, Munich. November 26, 2024–March 16, 2025. The show moves in April 2025 to the Toledo Museum of Art. Then in late August 2025 it will be hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Suzanne Valadon
This exhibition highlights an exceptional figure, underlining her pioneering role, often underestimated, in the birth of artistic modernity. It reveals the great freedom of Suzanne Valadon, who does not really adhere to any movement, except perhaps her own. The tour of nearly two hundred works draws on the wealth of national collections, including the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie. Exceptional loans from New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Fondation de l’Hermitage and important private collections complete it. It focuses on the artist’s two preferred mediums, drawing and painting.
Suzanne Valadon; Centre Pompidou, January 15–May 26, 2025. Versions of this show were hosted by the Center Pompidou-Metz in 2023, and the Nantes Museum of Arts and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona in 2024, under the title Suzanne Valadon: A World of One’s Own.
Harriet Backer: Every Atom is Color
Harriet Backer (1845–1932) was one of Norway’s most significant artists. Highly acclaimed for her rich, luminous use of color, Backer created an eminently personal style that blends interior scenes and open-air painting. She drew inspiration from the realist movement as well as from the innovations of Impressionism, with free brushstrokes and meticulous attention to variations in light. She is also famous for her tender portraits of rural life and her interest in church interiors. Backer’s early ambition was to become a portrait painter. Although today she is best known for her interiors and landscapes, she continued to paint portraits throughout her career. A number of these can be seen in the exhibition, including her only self-portrait.
Harriet Backer: Every Atom is Colour; Kode Bergen Art Museum. February 19–August 23, 2025. The show is co-organized with Nationalmuseum in Oslo, where a version of the show appeared in autumn 2023; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, where it appeared in spring/summer 2024; and Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where it appeared in autumn 2024.
Artemisia: Héroïne de l’art
Through around forty paintings, this show brings together recognized masterpieces by the artist. The exhibition includes paintings of recent attribution, or paintings rarely shown outside their usual place of conservation. It highlights the role of Artemisia Gentileschi in the history of 17th-century art. Artemisia: Héroïne de l’art aims in particular to demonstrate the profound originality of her work, her journey and her identity, which still remain a source of inspiration and fascination today. The story of Artemisia spans the centuries. And the reading that we can make of her work—a reflection of her experience and her resilience—proves timeless and universal.
Artemisia: Héroïne de l’art; Musée Jacquemart-André, March 19–August 3, 2025.
Mainie Jellett & Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship
Dedicated to the pioneering Irish modernists Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, this exhibition brings together 90 of their works of art. It explores their friendship and shared experiences while studying in Paris during the early 1920s, and traces their careers back to Ireland. The exhibition highlights the early convergences and later divergences in their styles as they developed distinct artistic voices. Featuring paintings, stained glass, and preparatory drawings, it reveals how both women were trailblazers in Irish art although remaining connected to conventional themes such as religion and landscape.
Mainie Jellett & Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship; National Gallery of Ireland, April 10–August 10, 2025.
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art
During her lifetime, collectors sought after Rachel Ruysch’s magnificent, deceptively realistic floral still lifes with exotic plants and fruit, butterflies and insects. At a time when women’s access to careers as professional artists was severely limited, Ruysch nevertheless became highly successful and widely renowned. Despite the great success she experienced during her lifetime, the art world has never accorded Ruysch the attention she deserves. The Toledo Museum of Art’s exhibition brings together her most important works from European and American public and private collections, including works that have never been exhibited publicly as well as new discoveries.
Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750): Nature into Art; Toledo Museum of Art, April 13–July 27, 2025. The show was previously on view at Alte Pinakothek, Munich. In late August 2025 it moves to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Angelika Kauffmann and Fashion
“Clothes make the man.” As a sought-after portrait painter who designed the public image of numerous personalities of her time, Angelika Kauffman (1741–1807) understood this well. She knew how to capture the whole essence of the sitters, but also demonstrated a great sense for fashion trends. Anyone painted by her could be sure to appear in the latest look from head to toe. For example, she preferred to dress noble ladies of English society in flowing, wide robes “à la Turque” and thus contributed to the spread of this style. Using original paintings, drawings, prints and textile exhibits, the exhibition highlights fashion at the transition from Rococo to Classicism. It presents Angelika Kauffmann as a painter whose paintings influenced art and fashion in equal measure.
Angelika Kauffmann and Fashion; Das Angelika Kauffmann Museum, Schwarzenberg, May 1–November 2, 2025.
Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece
In 2020, a massive explosion in the port of Beirut devastated the city. Among the wreckage was a previously unknown painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated woman painter of 17th-century Italy. Depicting a scene from the Greek myth of Hercules, the severely damaged painting came to Getty for in-depth conservation treatment. In a focused installation concentrating on its repair, the restored painting is accompanied by three of Gentileschi’s other paintings, highlighting her special focus on donne forti (strong women) from the classical and Biblical traditions.
Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece; The Getty, June 10–September 14, 2025.
In the Time of Camille Claudel: Being a Sculptress in Paris
Camille Claudel and her work have been the subject of numerous monographic exhibitions, but rarely has attention been given to her artistic and cultural milieu. In particular, women artists who followed a similar path remain largely unknown. Through this project, the Musée Camille Claudel, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, and the Musée de Pont-Aven aim to bring these figures out of obscurity, showcasing the original creations of exceptional women sculptors—atelier companions, friends, or rivals of Camille Claudel—who shared her vivid imagination and undeniable talent. Alongside the sculptors’ works, their painted or photographic portraits in their studios and letters exchanged between Camille Claudel and her peers will bring to life the network of female artists known to Claudel during her career.
In the Time of Camille Claudel: Being a Sculptress in Paris; Musée Camille Claudel, September 13, 2025–January 4, 2026.
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1500–1750
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600–1750 showcases a broad range of work by more than 40 Dutch and Flemish women artists, including Gesina ter Borch, Maria Faydherbe, Anna Maria de Koker, Judith Leyster, Magdalena van de Passe, Clara Peeters, Rachel Ruysch, Maria Tassaert, Jeanne Vergouwen, Michaelina Wautier, and more. Presenting an array of paintings, lace, prints, paper cuttings, embroidery, and sculpture, this exhibition draws on recent scholarship to demonstrate that a full view of women’s contributions to the artistic economy is essential to understanding Dutch and Flemish visual culture of the period. The show is organized in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium.
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600–1750; National Museum of Women in the Arts, September 26, 2025–January 11, 2026.
Michaelina Wautier: Painter
The Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is dedicating its fall exhibition 2025 to Michaelina Wautier, who is regarded as one of the foremost female artists of the seventeenth century. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to discover almost the entire oeuvre of this outstanding artist alongside works by contemporaries such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.
Michaelina Wautier: Painter; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, September 30, 2025–January 25, 2026.
Anna Ancher
Influenced by her travels to Paris, as well as French Impressionism, Anna Ancher (1859–1935) produced vivid interiors and evocative landscape scenes in which light becomes the central figure. She is widely celebrated in her homeland yet remains relatively unknown to British audiences. The first major exhibition in the UK dedicated to the artist brings together recently discovered paintings from Ancher’s home. They are displayed alongside an extensive body of work made throughout the artist’s long career. Overall the exhibition features more than 40 of her paintings. Anna Ancher demonstrates the painter’s bold approach to color and radical interpretation of everyday scenes as a truly pioneering modern painter.
Anna Ancher; Dulwich Picture Gallery, November 4, 2025–March 8, 2026.
Remember: we will be adding entries to this list as art museums announce new 2025 shows! Keep checking back …
