ART, LITERATURE & THE LIVES BETWEEN

Women who make us look again.

An open notebook on women’s creativity. Real artworks, credited to their makers and linked to the women’s museum that holds them.

An asymmetrical bouquet of luminous flowers and curling stems against a dark background. — Rachel Ruysch, ca. 1680s. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Image & rights

Rachel Ruysch

Roses, Convolvulus, Poppies, and Other Flowers in an Urn on a Stone Ledge

A GYNĒMA READING

Light draws the eye towards the roses and poppies, while curling stems keep the bouquet from feeling static. Looking closely at the insects and leaves reveals how much observation sits behind an image that first appears simply decorative.

What changes when you look at the edges rather than the centre?

Read the museum’s account

Fish and oyster shells arranged on a table beside a cat holding a fish. — Clara Peeters, after 1620. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Image & rights

Clara Peeters

Still Life of Fish and Cat

A GYNĒMA READING

Smooth fish, rough shells and soft fur create a conversation between textures. The cat interrupts the stillness: the table becomes a small scene of appetite and action, not only an arrangement of objects.

Which surface seems most tangible, and how does the painter create that effect?

Read the museum’s account

Keep reading across disciplines.

In the Reading Room, explore women writers, fashion as expression, histories of voting and education, and the relationship between culture and rights. Our short readings are interpretations; museum pages provide the collection context.

Open the Reading Room