The Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent is hosting the exhibition "Inoubliables" (Unforgettables), on view until May 31, which highlights the work of women artists from the 17th and 18th centuries in the former Netherlands region. The show features about 40 female creators active between 1600 and 1750, including painters like Michaelina Wautier, Judith Leyster, and Rachel Ruysch, working in genres from portraiture and still life to engraving, lacemaking, and paper cutting. The exhibition aims to restore these women to their rightful place in art history.
The exhibition matters because it challenges the long-held assumption that Old Masters were exclusively male, demonstrating that women were active across all areas of the creative economy of their time. By presenting works that were often misattributed to male artists after the creators' deaths, "Inoubliables" corrects historical erasure and offers a more complete narrative of early modern art. It also introduces contemporary audiences to overlooked talents whose innovative approaches—such as Wautier's youthful depictions of saints or Leyster's genre scenes—deserve recognition.