Chanel, Rijksmuseum, and the relentless fight against women’s exclusion

This week we were elated to tour the Rijksmuseum through the Women in the Rijksmuseum project powered by CHANEL. As an initiative born on International Women’s Day in 2021, the fashion vanguard corroborated the art researchers’ mission two years later, becoming their sworn partner in a joint fight for adequate representation. Even though it’s superfluous to point fingers at the state of art and its historical exclusion of women, lack of appropriate exposure has been dwelling at the fundaments of the most important art institutions. Not to mention, it’s been a hot minute since a woman’s painting even hung in the honorary hall of the Rijksmuseum – 220 years prior to the program’s inauguration, to be exact. That’s exactly why this somber status quo is down for a (rapid) change. 

The fourth Symposium left us on an optimistic note by enriching woman-centered narratives in art history and crafting a more complex tale of negligence. The Symposium reflects tumultuous efforts of rewriting art history’s patriarchal and misogynist tenure, but is more importantly concerned with the deconstruction of the cannon altogether. The theme, Fabric of Fame, foreshadows a long lineage of women in the underbelly of history who have contributed incessantly and, for the longest time, imperceptibly to the arts in all they entail. Female users, collectors, and patrons enter center stage and demand the heed of visitors, curators, executive staff alike.

The number of women in the Rijksmuseum has also increased with the newest acquisitions made in effort with CHANEL. The halls of the illustrious museum now also house a still-life piece by Maria van Oosterwijck (1630-1693) following a 2 year long restoration process that revealed intimate details about the artist’s methodologies. Van Oosterwijck rooted her practice in embodied creation and thus worked in a mindful tone, focusing on intuition, change, and perspective. Her praxis resulted in a small body of work, which imbues the recent acquisition with even more significance. The Dutch pioneer adorns the walls of the Rijksmuseum, and even more curatorial projects surrounding women saturate the space with hope for a future where projects such as Women in the Rijksmuseum are not the sole reason their art makes it into the daylight. Together with Chanel and the researchers at Rijksmuseum, we strive for a future where women simply exist in the art sphere without strenuous effort, and can be seen as they create and enjoy in contemporary, real time – not just decades after.