Rubens' Real and Imaginary Women

Elegant, powerful, sensual, innocent. They are women in their many representations, always and never the same. Women who animate Rubens' portraits with life and great humanity. Peter Paul Rubens' (1577 - 1640) was a Flemish painter celebrated for his dynamic style, technical skill, and ability to depict subjects with depth and emotion. His mastery extended to capturing the beauty and sensuality of the female form, making women a prominent theme in his art. Rubens and women, after all, is much more than a simple title for the highly anticipated exhibition that will be brought to the forefront at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London in the autumn of 2023. It is above all a challenge to clichés. That popular thought according to which the Flemish artist painted only “one type of woman”. Instead, it is an attempt to provide a broader and more accurate vision of the central role that the female figure assumes in the real and imaginary portraits that populate the pictorial world of Rubens. The exhibition Rubens & Women focuses on different portraits of women by the Baroque artist, showcasing a multiplicity of roles in female subjects who embody mythological figures, religious personalities and historical and real characters. The Dulwich Gallery exhibition will focus on around 40 paintings and drawings, including some well-known masterpieces such as Venus in the Mirror, The Three Graces, The Judgment of Paris or Portrait of Susanna Fourment.