Rijksmuseum and Prado plan research partnership on women in art and history
A postdoctoral fellowship is scheduled to begin in September 2027, followed by a Rijksmuseum exhibition on female leadership in the Habsburg Netherlands in 2029.
The Rijksmuseum and Museo Nacional del Prado have announced a research partnership on women in art and history. The museums say the project will use new research to deepen understanding of shared Dutch and Spanish history while increasing women’s representation in their collections.
The programme is to include expert meetings, an international postdoctoral fellowship and an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum. Recruitment for the fellowship is scheduled to start in October 2026, with the post due to begin in September 2027.
According to the announcement, the fellow will examine women’s roles, governance and representation in the Habsburg Empire, concentrating on connected Dutch and Spanish contexts. The fellow is to have access to both museums’ collections and contribute to exhibition projects developed through the partnership.
The Rijksmuseum says its exhibition is planned for 2029. It will consider power, public image and the use of art during the rule of Margaret of Austria, Mary of Hungary and Margaret of Parma, who together governed the Netherlands for almost 60 years in the sixteenth century, when it formed part of the Habsburg Empire.
The collaboration extends programmes already under way at both institutions. The Rijksmuseum launched its Women of the Rijksmuseum project in 2021 to improve gender balance in its collection and presentation. The Prado describes ‘El Prado en femenino’ as a permanent multidisciplinary initiative addressing women represented in its collection as artists, patrons and key figures.
The announcement does not name the future fellow, give a detailed research timetable, or identify curators or a lending plan for the 2029 exhibition.
Sources & further reading
Rijksmuseum: Rijksmuseum en Prado starten samenwerking vrouwen in kunst en geschiedenis
