Women sculptors honored in Prune Nourry's Visionaries exhibition at the Petit Palais

Artist Prune Nourry is set to spotlight forgotten women sculptors in the history of art with an exhibition at the Petit Palais, running from October 20, 2026 to January 24, 2027.

For centuries, women artists have been ignored, made invisible, reduced to the role of muse or model. Yet these female artists did exist. Prune Nourry has chosen to pay tribute to them by putting them back in the spotlight, with her exhibition Visionaries.

This exhibition runs from October 20, 2026 to January 24, 2027. Across all spaces of the Petit Palais, visitors encounter these unconventional sculptures that invite reflection on the role of women in art. The public is invited to follow a guided path through the works—from the museum’s gardens to the outdoor esplanade, and through the permanent collections. Keep your eyes open: some sculptures soar to 3.5 meters, while others stand just a few tens of centimeters tall...

Prune Nourry has chosen to honor 18 female sculptors from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. If you’re not yet familiar with Sarah Bernhardt, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Hélène Bertaux, Jane Poupelet, Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry, or Daria Gamsaragan, seize this opportunity to meet them!

Prune Nourry has created large, portraits sculpted of these visionary women, who opened the path for all the women artists who followed. The exhibition’s itinerary is complemented by about twenty sculptures by Prune Nourry, drawn from the Venus or Holy Daughters series.

This army of sculpted women thus accompanies visitors as they tour the museum. Their presence sparks a dialogue with the Petit Palais’s permanent collections, urging us to look more closely at these paintings and sculptures. Where are the women? In the face of these contemporary works, we notice the absence of women artists in these historical collections—an absence shaped by a male-dominated power structure that is deeply ingrained in every aspect of our societies.

Despite the obstacles they may have faced, some women artists have managed to carve out a place for themselves and to create. It is this courage and these efforts that Prune Nourry aims to honor, by unveiling the portraits of these anonymous and forgotten women.

The exhibition Visionaries is free to explore starting in Autumn 2026: make the most of this inspiring and thought-provoking artistic journey.