Overview
- Fundación Mapfre opened the exhibition in Madrid on Sunday, October 4, 2026, displaying more than 130 works loaned by 65 public and private collections.
- The show is arranged chronologically across nine thematic sections to chart the artists’ development in painting, photography, textiles, ceramics, printmaking and stained glass.
- Works by named figures such as Elizabeth Siddal, Joanna Boyce, Evelyn de Morgan, May Morris, Emma Sandys and photographer Julia Margaret Cameron are on view.
- The exhibition highlights the barriers these women faced, noting that women were excluded from full Royal Academy membership until 1863 and sometimes used male pseudonyms to exhibit.
- By gathering major loans and visible galleries of applied arts and photography, the project aims to widen museum narratives and raise public awareness of women’s central role in Victorian visual culture.