Women Artists in Düsseldorf 1819–1919
For much of the 19th century, women were denied access to the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Nevertheless, the city’s reputation for its flourishing art scene attracted female students from Germany and abroad. By the time the institution gradually opened its doors to women in 1919, around 500 female artists had lived and worked in Düsseldorf.
Luise Henriette von Martens, Young Lady, ca. 1850–1860
Here you can find a list of women artists working in Düsseldorf between 1819 and 1919 (only available in German).
In preparation for the exhibition “Women Artists! From Monjé to Münter” (25 September 2025 – 1 February 2026), the Kunstpalast launched a research project in 2021 dedicated to women artists who were active in Düsseldorf between 1819 and 1919.
In 1819, the the Prussian state re-established the Düsseldorf Art Academy. The school quickly rose to become an internationally renowned centre of artistic training. While the first director, Peter Cornelius, was open towards admitting female students, his successor Wilhelm Schadow wrote retrospectively: “Apart from a few terrible male painters, I also found even worse female painters at the academy, whom I henceforth excluded from classes.” Nevertheless, Düsseldorf’s reputation for its flourishing art scene attracted female students from Germany and abroad, who took expensive private lessons from the professors there. This prestige declined from the 1870s onward. On the one hand, the style of painting perceived as typical of Düsseldorf lost popularity. On the other hand, better training opportunities were available for women elsewhere. Gradually, academy-like schools for women were founded in Berlin (1867), Munich (1884) and Karlsruhe (1885). However, the number of women artists continued to rise in Düsseldorf, too, as women were increasingly entering professional life generally. Art offered them a socially acceptable career field. An attractive institutional education became available to artistically interested women in Düsseldorf when the School of Applied Arts opened its doors to them in 1904 under Peter Behrens. Records show that by 1913 alone, around 170 female students received training there. With the closure of the School of Applied Arts in 1919, a “Women’s Art School” was founded and gradually integrated into the art academy. However, it was not until around 1923 that women and men began attending the same classes.
In preparation for the exhibition “Women Artists! From Monjé to Münter” (25 September 2025 – 1 February 2026), the Kunstpalast launched a research project in 2021 dedicated to women artists who were active in Düsseldorf between 1819 and 1919.
In 1819, the the Prussian state re-established the Düsseldorf Art Academy. The school quickly rose to become an internationally renowned centre of artistic training. While the first director, Peter Cornelius, was open towards admitting female students, his successor Wilhelm Schadow wrote retrospectively: “Apart from a few terrible male painters, I also found even worse female painters at the academy, whom I henceforth excluded from classes.” Nevertheless, Düsseldorf’s reputation for its flourishing art scene attracted female students from Germany and abroad, who took expensive private lessons from the professors there. This prestige declined from the 1870s onward. On the one hand, the style of painting perceived as typical of Düsseldorf lost popularity. On the other hand, better training opportunities were available for women elsewhere. Gradually, academy-like schools for women were founded in Berlin (1867), Munich (1884) and Karlsruhe (1885). However, the number of women artists continued to rise in Düsseldorf, too, as women were increasingly entering professional life generally. Art offered them a socially acceptable career field. An attractive institutional education became available to artistically interested women in Düsseldorf when the School of Applied Arts opened its doors to them in 1904 under Peter Behrens. Records show that by 1913 alone, around 170 female students received training there. With the closure of the School of Applied Arts in 1919, a “Women’s Art School” was founded and gradually integrated into the art academy. However, it was not until around 1923 that women and men began attending the same classes.
Emilie Preyer, Still Life with Grapes, Greengages, Peach and Hazelnuts, not dated
The research project focused not only on the training conditions for women artists in Düsseldorf, but also on their presence in the city, their artistic work and their career strategies. Many sources were consulted over the course of the project numerous sources were accessed. Historical address books, newspapers and exhibition catalogues were examined as well as documents in archives and estates. In addition to numerous names and works that were rediscovered throughout the research, the project was also able to trace the women’s participation in exhibitions and their networking in female artists’ associations. The research project was supported by a research traineeship by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The results of the project are documented in:
Kathrin DuBois (Hrsg.), Künstlerinnen! Von Monjé bis Münter, exh. cat.Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf 2025.
Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki (Hrsg.), Crossing Borders. Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s, exh. cat.Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki 2025.
Also in the list provided above.
Research requests can be directed to Kathrin DuBois, Head of the Department of Painting until 1900: kathrin.dubois@kunstpalast.de
Discover works by the project’s women artists in our digital collection
The results of the project are documented in:
Kathrin DuBois (Hrsg.), Künstlerinnen! Von Monjé bis Münter, exh. cat.Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf 2025.
Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki (Hrsg.), Crossing Borders. Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s, exh. cat.Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki 2025.
Also in the list provided above.
Research requests can be directed to Kathrin DuBois, Head of the Department of Painting until 1900: kathrin.dubois@kunstpalast.de
Discover works by the project’s women artists in our digital collection
Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, Italian Woman, 1845–48
From the 1840s onwards, the Düsseldorf Art Academy’s good reputation attracted a great number of artists from abroad, particularly from Northern Europe. The training offered in the city was highly esteemed in those countries and in turn helped shape their own art history. Many women, including Mathilde Dietrichson (Norway), Sophie Ribbing (Sweden) and Fanny Churberg (Finland), also came to Düsseldorf. Some of them were pioneers in their homelands. Victoria Åberg from Finland, for example, was one of the first professional female painters in her country.
The research project was conducted in close cooperation with the Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. Their exhibition “Crossing Borders. Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s” (7. March–24. August 2025) showed Northern European, Baltic and Polish women artists who studied in Germany in the 19th century. The scholarly exchange was intensified at two international seminars in Helsinki (“Crossing Borders, Making Links”, September 2023, “Crossing Borders – Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s”, March 2025).
On the occasion of the opening in Helsinki, the two curators Anne-Maria Pennonen (Helsinki) and Kathrin DuBois (Düsseldorf) gave an interview about their collaborative project.
The research project was conducted in close cooperation with the Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. Their exhibition “Crossing Borders. Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s” (7. March–24. August 2025) showed Northern European, Baltic and Polish women artists who studied in Germany in the 19th century. The scholarly exchange was intensified at two international seminars in Helsinki (“Crossing Borders, Making Links”, September 2023, “Crossing Borders – Travelling Women Artists in the 1800s”, March 2025).
On the occasion of the opening in Helsinki, the two curators Anne-Maria Pennonen (Helsinki) and Kathrin DuBois (Düsseldorf) gave an interview about their collaborative project.
Picture credits
Picture credits
