This gallery includes images of women throughout the history of the visual arts and how they were portrayed during that time period. From goddesses to sexualized objects of desire, to the more natural realistic depictions of women. Throughout art history women have been represented in all different ways, shapes and forms this gallery touches base on some examples of this.
Lady of Elche, Late 5th / early 4th century BC, From the collection of: Museo Arqueológico Nacional
This sculpture is a bust of a woman’s head wearing a detailed headdress with large coils on both sides of her face. The balance of the sculpture is symmetrical; the woman is wearing an expressionless gaze with the headdress moving evenly across her forehead with the large coils on either side of her face with a repeating pattern of bumps and tassels hanging in front of each ear. It appears to be some sort of ceremonial headdress so you can assume the woman being represented in the sculpture is of importance, perhaps a priestess or princess.
Nude Woman Seated on a Stool, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), 1654/56, From the collection of: The Art Institute of Chicago
This piece represents women in a natural and realistic portrayal. Instead of a very detailed realistic nude Rembrandt used less detail to express this. Just by her simple shape, generalized face and contemplative pose it gives us the sense of her inner strength. Rembrandt used organic lines to establish the figure mixed with the light brushwork to provide the tone for the piece.
Portrait of a Woman with Mask, Rosalba Carriera, 1720/1730, From the collection of: Fondazione Cariplo
This piece represents women in a graceful, light, and elegant manner. The woman is represented as if she were a symbolic figure, with her soft and loving gaze, her bracelet of pearls, and the pretty circle of flowers holding her hair. Her soft, flowing dress showing the top of her right breast is owed to Classicism and is the representation of the pagan goddesses. Carriera achieves this elegance by using soft lines to develop the figure and applying the light pastel colors in a soft almost whimsical manner. The colors here are used to communicate the gracefulness of the woman.
Venus and Amor, Hans Baldung Grien, 1524/1525, From the collection of: Kröller-Müller Museum
This figure represented is Venus, a goddess and was produced during the Italian Renaissance. This mythological figure is the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility. This is a very carnal version of Venus. Her larger than life body is emphasized by the contrast of the dark background thus bringing it to life.
After the Bath, Edgar Degas, about 1895, From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
The woman here is represented in the most realistic sense. The woman here is depicted in an unusual but natural, inelegant pose. Some may see the representation as misogynistic. But it’s an intimate painting; with the woman lying on the divan while the maid combs her hair. Lines are essentially absent in this painting; the softness and realism of this image is obtained by the application of soft pastel colors.
Stonebreaking Woman, Karl Janssen, 1902, From the collection of: Kunstpalast
The woman here is represented as the workingwoman. This sculpture represents the hardships of the working mother. The amount of detail depicted in the image is what brings it to life. Texture, from her dress to the hammer to the stones. The supremely realistic texture is what makes this piece come to life.
Hungarian Gypsy Girl, Amrita Sher-Gil, 1932, From the collection of: National Gallery of Modern Art
This woman is represented in a most naturalistic sense. The attractive woman is laying in the grass in a seductive position. But the soft colors and how Sher-Gil uses the greens from the background in the reflections of her skin tone bring the painting to life. The woman appears innocent but yet sultry at the same time.
Portrait of a woman, Sebastián Rodríguez, ca. 1935 - ca. 1945, From the collection of: MALI, Museo de Arte de Lima
This woman is represented in the traditional/conventional sense. The woman is dressed in traditional Peruvian clothing and combined with the beautiful alpine background it gives the viewer the sense of community. She has blank expression, which could possibly represent her unhappiness with her current situation. This picture is an exemplary example of the use of space. The focus of the picture is clearly the woman but the mountains in the background fill the picture and draw your eye around the picture to get the full sense of a peasant in Morocco.
The Loving Cup, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1867, From the collection of: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
The woman here is represented almost as a religious figure without actually containing any image from the Bible. This beautiful woman with braided long brown hair, is wrapped in a red robe, and raises a golden cup to her lips as she holds the cup's top to her bosom with her left hand and faces the audience with a dream-like complacent facial expression. The cup itself is covered in hearts; hence “the loving cup”. The colors and style of the piece give it a Raphael-ish feel to it.
Portrait of Woman, Carlos Carneiro, 1961, From the collection of: Dionísio Pinheiro And Alice Cardoso Pinheiro Foundation
The woman here is represented as the everyday woman. Lines in this watercolor painting are absent but the rich application of color and the highlights of her sweater and the light reflecting off the table give it the sensitivity desired by Carneiro. Shes hard at work like the everyday woman but the softness of the color and lack of lines gives it a soft emotional feel like that of a woman.
Credits: All media
This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not represent the views of the institutions whose collections include the featured works or of Google Arts & Culture.
