The Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent has launched "Unforgettable," a landmark exhibition recovering the histories of over 40 women artists who were active in Belgium and the Netherlands between 1600 and 1750. The show highlights the professional success of figures like Princess Louise Hollandine and Maria Schalcken, while also acknowledging the anonymous working-class women who fueled the luxury economy through lacemaking. It challenges the long-held myth that female artists were rare exceptions during the Flemish Golden Age.
This exhibition is significant for its role in correcting the art historical canon and exposing the systemic reasons for the erasure of women, such as the intentional alteration of signatures to credit male relatives for higher market value. By moving beyond a few famous names like Judith Leyster to include a broader range of social classes and artistic disciplines, the museum provides a more accurate economic and cultural map of the 17th-century art world.