See Why One Feminist Artist’s Protest of Old Master Depictions of Women at the Prado Museum Went Instantly Viral

A feminist writer and cartoonist in Spain has caused a
social-media sensation by sharing photos of Old Master paintings
from the Museo del
Prado’s collection alongside her own hand-painted signs
that declare the depicted women “not whores” and “not saints” as a
protest against virgin-whore stereotyping.

The artist, Anastasia Bengoechea, posed with her placards in
front of Guido Reni’s painting of
Cleopatra, in which a
snake lunges at the Egyptian queen’s nipple, and Juan Carreño de
Miranda’s portrait of a pale and placid-looking Queen Mariana of
Austria. The phrases were written in
Spanish, ni putas and ni santas (the Spanish
saying continues, solo mujeres). Bengoechea’s Instagram
post, which assured the Prado it was “still my favorite place in
Madrid,” helped “Cleopatra” make the top 20 trending topics in
Spain.

The artist, who goes by @monstruoespagueti on social media, has
received more than 14,000 likes on the images, which have also been
turned into a meme.

“I’m a little surprised of the virality of the picture,” she
told artnet News via Instagram. “Being openly and sharply critical
about things is the essence of my work.”

Some responses on social media have criticized Bengoechea’s
choice of artworks, arguing that Cleopatra wasn’t a whore and Queen
Mariana wasn’t a saint, according to La Vangardia.
But Bengoechea says she doesn’t mind.

“What I am really enjoying the most about the attention these
pictures are having is that everybody is making an interpretation
about it,” she said. “Some say I am calling Cleopatra a whore, some
make theories about why I pick those paintings, some ask me how did
I take the pictures, and that is exactly what keeps the
conversation alive.”

The post See Why One Feminist Artist’s Protest of Old Master
Depictions of Women at the Prado Museum Went Instantly Viral
appeared first on artnet News.