Bode Galerie in Nuremberg has opened a new group exhibition titled “The Woman in Art – Muse and Creator,” running through July 5, 2025. The show traces the representation of women across the 20th and 21st centuries, featuring works by artists such as Henri Matisse, Ida Kerkovius, Alain Clément, and Elvira Bach. It begins with early 1900s works where women were primarily muses for male artists, then moves through decades of reclamation by women artists, culminating in contemporary autonomous depictions of the female form.
The exhibition matters because it offers a focused, chronological lens on a vast subject—women in art—highlighting the shift from women as passive subjects to active creators. By juxtaposing male and female perspectives over 125 years, it provides an accessible entry point into ongoing conversations about gender, representation, and agency in modern and contemporary art. The show avoids prescriptive conclusions, instead inviting viewers to reflect on the evolving role of women as both muse and maker.