Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette’s favorite portraitist
She built a celebrated portrait career despite barriers to formal training, using artistic skill and determination to earn recognition across courts and countries.
Women worth knowing
All Stories
Extraordinary women, overlooked stories, and a more complete history. Explore the lives, ideas, and achievements that changed the world.
women painters
Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux, French painter, composer, and musician
Her self-portrait captures an artist who understood music as intimately as painting, preserving the skill and ambition of a woman working across creative disciplines.
Suzanne Valadon, self-taught artist of Bohemian Paris
She learned to paint while modeling for other artists, then built a celebrated career of her own with bold work that challenged artistic conventions.