The new exhibition ‘Maleri̶n̶n̶e̶’ presents around 50 paintings by women who worked as professional artists in Europe during the 1500s and 1600s, and was developed in collaboration with Galleria Borghese in Rome. Most of the paintings have never previously been shown in Norway.
The exhibition runs from 8 October 2026 to 7 February 2027 at Nasjonalmuseet’s Lyshallen.
Between 1550 and 1650, women artists created professional careers in an art world dominated by men, and ‘Maleri̶n̶n̶e̶’ shows that they were not exceptions but central actors in Europe’s art life.
The exhibition explores how women could become artists at a time when education, workshops and academies were largely reserved for men, following how female artists found ways into the profession and established themselves in the artistic environment through their education, networks and choices of subject. By following these routes into artistic work and professional life, ‘Maleri̶n̶n̶e̶’ gives a new perspective on art history.
‘Maleri̶n̶n̶e̶’ continues this discussion by making visible artists who were recognized in their own time but later fell out of the dominant narrative of art history.
Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘Maria Magdalena’ is dated to approximately 1615–1617. Michaelina Wautier’s ‘Jomfru Marias opplæring’ is dated 1656.
