The Museo del Prado in Madrid has opened its first-ever exhibition dedicated to a female artist, "The Art of Clara Peeters," 197 years after the museum's founding. The show features 15 major works by the Flemish still-life painter, active in early 17th-century Antwerp, and is curated by Alejandro Vergara, the museum's Chief Curator of Flemish and Northern School Painting. The exhibition runs from October 25, 2026, to February 19, 2017, and is co-organized with the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp.
This exhibition matters because it highlights the Prado's historic gender imbalance: the museum holds works by only 41 women compared to over 5,000 men. By spotlighting Peeters, a key figure in early still-life painting who worked outside the official guild system, the show draws attention to the broader historical prejudices that limited opportunities for women artists. It also marks a significant step in the Prado's slow progress toward addressing its institutional legacy of exclusion.