Rijksmuseum and Museo Nacional del Prado Join Forces to Explore Women in Art and History

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid have announced a new research partnership exploring the roles of women in art and history, with a particular focus on the shared Dutch and Spanish history of the Habsburg Empire.

The collaboration will bring together research, collections and expertise from the two institutions through expert meetings, an international postdoctoral fellowship programme and a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in 2029.

The partnership builds on ongoing efforts at both museums to increase the visibility of women within their collections and exhibitions. It will examine women's roles in governance and political life, as well as their representation through art, with particular attention to the Habsburg Netherlands during the sixteenth century.

A New Fellowship Programme

The international fellowship programme will begin in September 2027 and focus on the role, governance and representation of women in the Habsburg Empire. Research will explore connections between the Dutch and Spanish contexts, reflecting the close dynastic and political relationships that shaped Europe during the period.

The selected postdoctoral researcher will have access to the collections of both the Rijksmuseum and the Prado and will contribute to exhibition projects developed through the partnership. Recruitment for the fellowship will begin in October 2026. The programme will also provide a framework for continuing dialogue between researchers and museum specialists through a series of expert meetings.

Building on Existing Research

At the Prado, the partnership extends the museum's El Prado en Femenino initiative, which began as a research project and has developed into a permanent programme examining women as artists, patrons and influential figures represented in the collection.

The programme has brought renewed attention to figures including Clara Peeters, Sofonisba Anguissola, Isabel Clara Eugenia, Christina of Sweden and Isabella Farnese through exhibitions, publications, research, lectures and digital projects.

This autumn, the Prado will also present an exhibition dedicated to Mariana of Austria, examining the creation and evolution of her image throughout her life and reign and the ways in which her public image was promoted during an important period in the history of the Spanish Monarchy.

At the Rijksmuseum, the Women of the Rijksmuseum programme has been researching the visibility of women in the collection since 2021. More than 450 objects have been studied as part of the initiative, which has included the Women in the Museum symposium series and the exhibition Point of View: A Gender Perspective on the Collection.

The Rijksmuseum has also acquired works by women artists including Gesina ter Borch, Maria van Oosterwijck and Marlow Moss. The new partnership will extend this work through international research and knowledge exchange, allowing the two museums to examine their collections alongside one another.

Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in 2029

The partnership will culminate in an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in 2029 focusing on female leadership in the Habsburg Netherlands. The exhibition will explore the impact, public perception and role of art during the reigns of Margaret of Austria, Mary of Hungary and Margaret of Parma. Their combined periods of governance over the Netherlands spanned almost 60 years during the sixteenth century, when the region formed part of the Habsburg Empire.

The exhibition will consider how art was used to construct and communicate the identities of these powerful women, while examining their political authority, cultural influence and relationships with the courts and territories of the Habsburg world. By bringing together works and research from Amsterdam and Madrid, the project will offer a cross-border perspective on a period when dynastic connections linked the Netherlands and Spain particularly closely.

Expanding the History of Art

For both museums, the partnership represents an opportunity to deepen existing research while placing their collections within a broader European context. The combination of academic research, museum collections and public exhibitions will also bring greater attention to women whose contributions to political and cultural life have not always received the same visibility as those of their male counterparts.

With the fellowship programme beginning in 2027 and the exhibition scheduled for 2029, the collaboration will develop over several years, creating new opportunities for scholarship and public engagement around women, power and representation in European art and history.

The Women of the Rijksmuseum programme is supported by a number of philanthropic funds and individual donors, including CHANEL, the Susi Zijderveld Fund, the Familie Krouwels Fund, the Machteld Vos & Willem Sijthoff Fund and the Women of the Rijksmuseum Fund, among others.