Primarily based on works from the Museo del Prado’s collection, this exhibition looks at the role of women in the Spanish arts system in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Taking the form of a survey structured into two principal sections, it will fi rstly present the image of women that was legitimised by the State through prizes, exhibitions and museums and the position that women occupied in society at this period. Secondly, and through the display of some of the most important examples of visual art produced by women in 19th century Spain (organised into sections that analyse the diff erent artistic fi elds in which they worked), the exhibition maps out the subordinate role that the system conceded to women.

Finally, it shows the sometimes epic journey that women were obliged to undertake in order to free themselves from the limitations imposed on them due to their sex.