Maria Sibylla Merian

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.
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Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age: Illuminating the Natural World

Posted: November 13, 2019
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
The lives and works of women artists of the Dutch Golden Age reveal connections between artists, patrons, and the subject matter of the natural world. The Dutch took pleasure in...
A still life painting featuring an asymmetrical arrangement of flowers; the central section features pink, orange, yellow, and blue flowers and is dramatically highlighted compared to the background and outer edge of arrangement.

Maria Sibylla Merian and Rachel Ruysch: Opportunity and Mobility

Posted: June 17, 2019
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
Dutch flower painter Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) and German naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) navigated limitations on mobility and opportunity in very distinct ways, nurturing long and successful careers despite all...
A still life painting featuring an asymmetrical arrangement of flowers; the central section features pink, orange, yellow, and blue flowers and is dramatically highlighted compared to the background and outer edge of arrangement.

Down to a Science: #5WomenArtists Spark #5WomenScientists

Posted: April 7, 2017
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
For Women’s History Month, NMWA posed the question, “Can you name five women artists?” While social media users shared stories of women artists with #5WomenArtists, other science museums, and cultural...
Close-up photograph shows a trumpet-shaped flower against a dark black background. The flower's striated long neck erupts in a profusion of purple and white petals that dominate the composition.

Women’s History Month: Can You Name #5womenartists?

Posted: February 29, 2016
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
Did you know that even though women make up 51% of visual artists today, in the U.S. only 5% of work on museum walls is by women? It is no...

Art Fix Friday: February 19, 2016

Posted: February 19, 2016
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Patterned Pathmakers

Posted: January 27, 2016
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
Dynamic women designers and artists from the mid-20th century and today create innovative designs, maintain craft traditions, and incorporate new aesthetics into fine art in Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and...
View of a gallery space. On a black wall, it says " Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and Design, Midcentury and Today" in big, white letters, Two pendant lights are hanging from the ceiling to the left.

Art Fix Friday: January 22, 2016

Posted: January 22, 2016
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Art Fix Friday: September 11, 2015

Posted: September 11, 2015
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Merian’s Daughters: Monika E. de Vries Gohlke, Amy Lamb, and Janaina Tschäpe

Posted: September 1, 2015
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
Three artists credit groundbreaking 17th-century artist and scientist Maria Sibylla Merian, whose work is also on view in Super Natural, as a major influence on their performances, photography, videos, and...
Close-up photograph shows a trumpet-shaped flower against a dark black background. The flower's striated, long neck erupts in a profusion of purple and white petals that dominate the composition.

Women with Wanderlust

Posted: June 10, 2015
Category: Maria Sibylla Merian
During the press preview for Super Natural, NMWA Chief Curator Kathryn Wat stressed one fact above all others about featured artist Maria Sibylla Merian: this woman was radical. Not only...
A detailed engraving portrays a large, black and tan lizard with a white belly in precise detail. Facing right and positioned over a green surface and a hatching egg, the reptile bites a long, red and black snake attacking another egg and curling around the lizard's tail.