Prado and Rijksmuseum join forces for women in art

Madrid’s Prado Museum and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum are joining forces in a strategic alliance to explore women’s role in history and reassess the shared heritage between Spain and the Netherlands.

Madrid’s Prado Museum and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum have joined forces to restore the memory of women in art. The two major European galleries are pooling efforts to revisit the shared history between Spain and the Netherlands and to give women artists, patrons and key figures the prominence they have always deserved in their rooms.

The centrepiece of this agreement is an international postdoctoral fellowship that will start in 2027. The aim is to delve into the collections and shed light on women’s roles during the Habsburg era, with findings that will inform upcoming projects at both museums and culminate in a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in 2029.

This step consolidates a path both institutions had already been following separately. On one side is the initiative ‘El Prado en Femenino‘, which, after returning centre stage to names such as Clara Peeters and Sofonisba Anguissola, two of the most important painters in the history of European art, is now preparing an exhibition on Mariana of Austria for this autumn.

On the other side is the ‘Women of the Rijksmuseum’ project, which since 2021 has analysed hundreds of works and added to its catalogue pieces by previously overlooked artists such as Gesina ter Borch, Maria van Oosterwijck and Marlow Moss.

Key facts about the postdoctoral fellowship

• Call for applications: The selection process opens in October 2026.
• Programme start: September 2027.
• Research focus: Work with the collections of the Prado Museum and the Rijksmuseum on the role of women in the Habsburg era.
• Final project: The selected researcher will play an active role in the major exhibition on this topic to be hosted by the Amsterdam museum in 2029.

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