Magical Realism, Symbolism, Surrealism, Modern art, portraiture, identity, Mexican culture, love, and Cubism Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread’s sculptures cause us to confront life’s most common objects in a new light. Born in Ilford, London, Rachel’s work is a poignant reflection of the negative spaces that surround us and a constant reminder of the things we don’t notice but are always there. Kusama’s work is often associated with the Pop Art movement due to her use of bold colors, patterns, and everyday objects. However, Kusama’s art also draws from other genres, such as Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. 6. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Always striving for perfection, Bonheur adopted unconventional ways of creating her paintings and often worked at farms and horse markets to create works that were as close to reality as possible. Emin cites Edvard Munch among her influences, which can be seen through some aspects of expressionism in her pieces. For example, the Bed (1985) was a painting by Munch that inspired Emin’s My Bed. The bed and surrounding objects in the piece represent her struggles with depression and relationships. Her work also reflects feminist ideas from feminist art movements, like postmodern feminism. 18. Catharina van Hemessen

Ask anyone to name a famous artist and you’ll probably hear the same names repeated over and over again: Da Vinci, Picasso, Monet, Degas … the list goes on and on. What you’re not likely to hear? A woman’s name.Lavinia Fontana is considered by many art historians to be the first woman in Western art history to achieve significant recognition. Fontana led her own art workshop and created many paintings showcasing a wide variety of subjects, which led to her fame and success. Georgia O’Keeffe was a prolific American Modernist painter who was best-known for her large abstract paintings of flowers and landscapes, which were iconic works of Modernism. Despite her struggle with depression and her loss of eyesight in her later career, O’Keeffe continued to attract the attention of many global admirers. She often disagreed with her interpretations of her work and at one point, shattered the art market record for the most expensive painting made by a female artist. Until very recently ... the idea that women in the West have always made art was rarely cited as a possibility. Yet, they have – and continue to do so – often against tremendous odds.' – Frieze Magazine An important artist of the Pictures Generation, a group of American artists in the early '70s who were known for their analysis of media culture, Cindy Sherman creates photographic self-portraits that critique gender and identity. Serving as director, makeup artist, hairstylist, stylist, model, set designer, and photographer, the artist metamorphosizes into complex characters and shoots herself within equally involved scenes.

Gentileschi was also recognized as the first female artist to become a member of the Florence Accademia di Arte del Disegno, where she honed her skills and presented some of the earliest examples of the female gaze in Renaissance art.

2. Artemisia Gentileschi

Influenced by surrealism and abstract expressionism movements, Louise Bourgeois was known for pushing boundaries both technically and conceptually within fine arts circles worldwide before passing away at the age of ninety-eight, leaving behind an impressive legacy spanning nearly seventy-five years! 15. Judith Leyster Growing up in Manhattan, Helen Frankenthaler pursued painting studies at the Dalton School and Bennington College. She began her extensive exhibition career in 1952, with the display of her painting Mountains and Sea. Having studied under the artist Hans Hoffman, as a young artist she became an important figure in the abstract expressionism artistic movement. Her paintings featured colorful, organic shapes. In the early years of her career, these compositions tended to be centralized on the canvas. By the 1960s, Frankenthaler's works often encompassed the entire canvas. Her six-decades-worth of work displays a constant evolution in style.

Artemisia Gentileschi, who was also known as Artemisia Lomi, was among the most talented and famous female artists of the Italian Renaissance. Gentileschi specialized in allegorical and mythological paintings, which often featured women from well-known narratives depicted in positions of power and strength. The history of art is littered with the names of great men—Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, etc. But what about the women who have helped shape the world's visual history? As with many other fields, women were historically discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts, yet there are many incredible females who persevered. These famous female artists have more in common than their gender and career path—they are all trailblazers in their own right, with many breaking barriers in their personal and public life. In a time when women artists were not as widely recognized, Artemisia Gentileschi broke through barriers and left an indelible mark on the world of art with her powerful depictions of heroic women continuing to inspire and captivate audiences today. 3. Georgia O’Keeffe Fauvism, Cubism, traditional Ukrainian embroidery, and folk art heavily influenced Delaunay’s work. She also worked in fashion design, creating textiles with bold patterns that reflected her artistic style. In addition, she helped organize the Salon des Indépendants and co-founded the magazine “Simultané,” which showcased artists like Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. 20. Bridget Riley Known for her work in photography, video, and film, Neshat’s projects often explore various oppositions, from Islam and the West to male and female. As she explained in an exhibition hosted by the Art 19 fundraising initiative, “It has always been my opinion that artists should be politically conscious and in my personal case being born as an Iranian, a country that has undermined basic human rights particularly since the Islamic revolution, I have uncontrollably gravitated toward making art that is concerned with issue of tyranny, dictatorship, oppression and political injustice. Although I don’t consider myself an activist I believe my art regardless of its nature, is a expression of protest, and a cry for humanity.”

Credits

But throughout it all, whether in earlier or later work, her perspective on each subject causes you to confront your biases, integrity, and state of mind. Finding her footing in the art world at the close of the 20th century, Ellen Gallagher comments on issues of race and gender through her multimedia work. In particular, she points out how these two issues have long been suppressed and invalidated by the media, and how this has shaped American history. Only in her mid-50s, Gallagher works and lives in both New York City and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mary Cassatt began her artistic journey as a famous female painter at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts but later moved to Paris. When she met Edgar Degas, Cassatt found her place in the art world. She became part of the Impressionist Movement and helped redefine painting conventions through experimentation with color, light, composition, and subject matter.

The anonymous group Guerrilla Girls wrote in 1988 that one of the advantages of being a woman artist is “Not Having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius”. But each woman on the following list is definitely a visionary, resistant and fighting spirit and, as a pioneer in her specific painting segment, has radically changed the way we perceive and experience the art of today. Ghada Amer Collagist Barbara Kruger got her start working in the design department at Condé Nast’s Mademoiselle magazine. In the mid-1970s, she began producing large-scale pieces that mixed found photographs with pithy sayings written in Futura Bold typeface, criticizing several cultural constructs like power, identity, gender, and sexuality. The artist splits her time between New York City and Los Angeles, and while she still occasionally produces new work, these days much of her energy is focused on teaching and writing. Over the years, Tracey Emin, like many contemporary artists, has explored her creativity through various mediums including installation art, performance art, paintings and sculptures.Hopping around the globe through 25 Iconic female artists who work primarily in painting. They either have made a lasting impact on 20th-century art or are still navigating and shaping the international art world system. Of course, great female painters exist and have existed, not only in the shadow of male artists and dealing with various hardships but with their own singularities and stubborn voices. Related articles: The meaning of the shadows in Kara Walker's work- A focus on Jenny Holzer’s path and Truisms topics... As an artist at the forefront of American Modernism, Georgia O'Keeffeis one of the most celebrated female artists in history. Her early drawings and paintings led to bold experiments in abstraction, with her focus on painting to express her feelings ushering in an era of “Art for Art's Sake.” During her lifetime, her career was intertwined with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. While the renowned photographer espoused ideas that American art could equal that of Europe and that female painters could create art just as powerful as men, he also hindered the interpretation of her work. King Philip loved her works to such an extent that he appointed her as a lady-in-waiting, enabling Anguissola to dedicate most of her time to painting. Anguissola’s style was shaped by the popular Caravaggisti aesthetic, which inspired Anguissola’s unique approach and made her one of the best painters of the style. Later in her career, Anguissola moved to Genoa, where she started art classes to teach other women how to paint.