Rob Horgan
FOR the first time in almost 200 years the Prado has devoted a solo exhibition to a female artist.
With 15 of her paintings on display, 17th century Flemish painter Clara Peeters is the first female artist to have a solo exhibition in Spain’s national art museum.
A number of Peeters’ works have hung in the Prado for a few years however this is the first time the paintings have been given a room of their own.
It comes two years after the museum’s director Alejandro Vergara vowed to give female artists greater prominence in the Prado.
“Walking around the museum one day, I thought to myself: ‘Where are the women artists?’ And I couldn’t find any,” she said. “So I went into our storage and we brought [Peeters’] paintings out.”
She added: “Hopefully this will be the first of many great female artists to be given exhibitions here.”
Peeters’ works are mostly still life paintings of fruit, fowl, fish, bowls and goblets, with tiny self-portraits hidden in her compositions.
