Free the Women Artists of Europe
- Artist: Guerrilla Girls
- Date: 2013
- Medium: Digital print on paper
- Dimensions: support: 608 x 455 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Free the Women Artists of Europe” by Guerrilla Girls. This 2013 digital print is part of a campaign that started in 1985 when a group of women artists noticed that a major museum exhibition had only 13 women out of 169 artists. They began fly‑posting on SoHo street corners, using gorilla masks to hide their identities and adopting names like Frida Kahlo and Gertrude Stein. The poster on the wall uses bright pinks and yellows, but the message is sharp: it lists data, asks rhetorical questions and exposes how European institutions keep women artists in the margins. The humor is dry but the statistics are stark. It reminds us that the fight against sexism, racism and homophobia in art is ongoing. If you look closely, you’ll see the bold typography, the list of statistics, and the signature “Do women have to be naked to get in?” line that keeps the critique coming. This piece keeps that conversation alive and asks us all to consider what it means to free women artists across Europe.
See it in person
Free the Women Artists of Europe is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
