“This exhibition proposal seeks to jointly explore the work of female artists in Spain and Portugal during the final years of the dictatorship and the early years of democracy.

The historical evolution of both countries during this period shares many similarities. Spain and Portugal both endured long dictatorships under authoritarian and repressive regimes, characterised by the veneration of the leader and a state organisation reminiscent of fascism, yet distinguished by a traditionalist and Catholic component. In fact, both regimes adopted the same slogan to summarise their ideology: “God, country and family.”

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the presence of female artists in both countries increased significantly, particularly within alternative circles and in opposition to the regime. When we examine the work of Spanish and Portuguese artists from this era, we see that they employed a wide variety of media and styles, including abstraction, normative art, traditional realism, pop art, critical realism, conceptualism and neo-Dadaism, among others. While not all of these artists focused on the female condition, a significant number of works created by women during this period engaged with themes closely linked to the feminist agenda -such as the sexual division of labor, the social construction of gender roles, motherhood, domesticity and sexual violence. However, this feminist or proto-feminist aspect was largely overlooked by critics at the time (and often denied by the artists themselves). It was only in recent years that Spanish and Portuguese historians began to examine the political dimension of many of these works.

This exhibition aims to reevaluate the contributions of Spanish and Portuguese female artists from this period, considering their specific context in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon model, and highlighting the numerous parallels between their work. It will also provide an opportunity to explore potential moments of exchange and interaction between artists from both countries”.