Uninvited Guests. Episodes on Women, Ideology and the Visual Arts in Spain, Prado Museum, Madrid: 14 October 2020-14 March 2021

Initially it explains the image which women painters had and the space they occupied, which was largely governed by the State through museums and awards. Some artists like Marisa Roësset, clearly benefited from this. You can see her piece Autorretrato de cuerpo entero (Full-body self portrait) which won her third place at the Exposición Nacional in 1924. 

Then, by including art created by Spanish women in the 19th-century, the exhibition offers a basic glimpse into the space women were granted. During this period women usually copied  other famous artists, purely to earn a living. You’ll see paintings, sculptures, photography and film from 1909 as examples. Specifically, famous works of Alejandrina Gessler, better known as Madame Anselm, include her copies of Las Hilanderas (The Fable of Arachne) and Las Lanzas (The Lances) by Diego Velázquez’s, the  Baroque Spanish Painter. You can see Anselm’s version of Las Hilanderas in this exhibition.

This two-fold tour provides insight into the lengths women had to go to push past the negative impression which society had of women, especially in the world of art.