Iconic Artworks by Women: 25 Masterpieces That Changed Contemporary Art

Iconic Artworks by Women: 25 Masterpieces That Changed Contemporary Art

Rewriting the Canon—How Female Artists Forced Open the Doors of Contemporary Art

The history of contemporary art is inseparable from the history of exclusion. For too long, the list of “masterpieces” was little more than a closed loop of male, Western, and often white artists—an echo chamber curated for, by, and about men. But over the last century, female artists have shattered that cycle, producing works that not only broke the mold but rewrote the rules of art itself. This is not a “celebration”—it’s an analysis of how 25 specific masterpieces by women forced the world to reconsider what matters in art, and who gets to decide.

The Stakes: What Makes an Artwork Iconic?

Iconic is not a synonym for “famous.” In the context of this guide, “iconic” means an artwork that:

• Changed how art is made, seen, or valued.

• Created a new vocabulary, medium, or method.

• Shaped cultural discourse, activism, or collective memory.

• Continues to influence the next generation of artists and the market itself.

Each of the 25 works featured in this series did not just “belong”—they disrupted, redirected, or detonated the canon.

From Early Subversion to Global Shockwaves

1. Artemisia Gentileschi – “Judith Slaying Holofernes” (c.1614–20)

• Historical Impact: Painted at a time when women could barely exhibit, Gentileschi’s brutal, dynamic composition was a direct rebuke to the passivity and decorum expected of female artists. Her signature, not her father’s, made this painting legendary.

• Modern Legacy: Its rediscovery fueled the feminist art history movement and led to a surge in institutional acquisitions of Baroque women painters.

• Market Data: Gentileschi’s auction records now surpass many of her male contemporaries, with major museums competing for her rare works.

• See The Representation Problem: Why Female Artists Still Struggle in the Art Market for analysis on historic and contemporary valuation.

2. Frida Kahlo – “The Two Fridas” (1939)

• Context: Kahlo turned autobiography into high art, merging personal trauma and political allegory. “The Two Fridas” is a masterclass in duality—colonial and indigenous, pain and pride.

• Institutional Influence: The work is a cornerstone of Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, and a rallying point for identity politics in art.

• Market Power: Kahlo’s auction records have reached eight figures, with her legacy driving Latin American art sales globally.

• For more on women redefining autobiography in art, see The Power of Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Women’s Art.

3. Louise Bourgeois – “Maman” (1999)

• Impact: This monumental spider sculpture isn’t just a public art sensation—it changed what was possible for women in sculpture, scale, and public commissions.

• Market Influence: Bourgeois’s late-career rise is a blueprint for institutional correction; her sculptures command prices and placements previously reserved for male “giants.”

• Urban Presence: Installed in global capitals, “Maman” is now as synonymous with cityscapes as any monument of the 20th century.

• Dive into public sculpture’s gender revolution at Famous Female Sculptors Who Transformed Public Spaces.

4. Faith Ringgold – “Tar Beach” (1988)

• Cultural Shift: Ringgold’s narrative quilt brought Black female storytelling into the museum mainstream, blending fine art, craft, and social commentary.

• Education & Access: Her work has transformed K-12 and university art education worldwide.

• Market Signal: Museums and collectors now aggressively pursue her textile-based works, pushing prices steadily upward.

• Explore how African and diaspora artists are leading change at Contemporary African Female Artists: A New Global Vanguard.

5. Judy Chicago – “The Dinner Party” (1974–79)

• Revolution: This installation is arguably the most influential feminist artwork of the 20th century. With 39 elaborate place settings honoring women in history, it made craft, collaboration, and gender the heart of the art-world conversation.

• Institutional Footprint: The Brooklyn Museum’s permanent installation has become a pilgrimage site and a subject of both celebration and controversy.

• Market Aftershocks: While unsellable, its impact has driven demand for collaborative, process-based art—and opened institutional doors for feminist and queer artists globally.

See Influential Female Artists Shaping Contemporary Visual Art: The Definitive Guide for a macro view of women changing art’s history.

From Margins to Milestones—Iconic Works That Redefined Art’s Possibilities

6. Barbara Kruger – “Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)” (1989)

Critical Context:
Kruger’s signature photo-text collages exposed the violence of language and imagery in mass media, especially as it relates to women’s bodies. Created for the 1989 Women’s March on Washington, “Your Body is a Battleground” went beyond art galleries—appearing on posters, T-shirts, and city streets, forever fusing visual art and protest.

Lasting Influence:
Her methods (appropriated images, declarative slogans) prefigured meme culture and social media activism. Kruger’s voice—bold, confrontational, unmistakable—made graphic language a weapon for feminist critique.

Market and Institutional Value:
Works from this series are among the most sought-after pieces of conceptual art; museums, including MoMA and LACMA, aggressively pursue her originals and ephemera.

Interlink:
For the intersection of art and activism, see Art and Activism: How Female Artists Drive Social Change.

7. Yayoi Kusama – “Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field” (1965)

Critical Context:
Kusama’s immersive installations were decades ahead of their time. “Phalli’s Field” exploded the idea of the artwork as a static object, inviting viewers to lose themselves in endless, repeating forms—sexually charged, psychologically rich, and utterly unlike anything her male peers produced.

Global Impact:
Her “Infinity Mirror Rooms” have become the world’s most-visited art installations, drawing millions. Kusama’s visual language is instantly recognizable, replicated everywhere from advertising to fashion.

Market Impact:
Kusama is one of the highest-grossing living female artists at auction, with works regularly fetching seven and eight figures.

Interlink:
To explore how women are innovating in immersive and digital art, see Women in Digital and NFT Art: Leaders, Trends, and Controversies.

8. Shirin Neshat – “Women of Allah” (1993–97)

Critical Context:
Neshat’s black-and-white portraits of Iranian women—faces and hands inscribed with Farsi poetry—redefined photographic portraiture and addressed East/West, faith/secularism, and the complexities of female resistance under authoritarian rule.

Cultural Resonance:
“Women of Allah” launched new discourses on the veiled female body, Islamic feminism, and diasporic identity. Neshat’s blend of photography, film, and calligraphy is now a textbook example of cross-cultural, cross-media innovation.

Market Value:
Works from this series are held in major international museums and have influenced prices for Middle Eastern and North African women artists.

Interlink:
For more on women artists redefining identity and diaspora, see Contemporary African Female Artists: A New Global Vanguard.

9. Tracey Emin – “My Bed” (1998)

Critical Context:
Emin’s installation of her own unmade bed, surrounded by the detritus of heartbreak and depression, blurred the boundaries between art and life, private and public. The piece ignited debates about value, authenticity, and the gendered politics of confession.

Market Power:
“My Bed” sold at Christie’s for over £2.5 million in 2014, confirming that raw autobiography—especially when executed by a woman—can achieve blue-chip status.

Institutional Legacy:
Emin’s work paved the way for a new wave of confessional, “unfiltered” art and continues to influence performance, installation, and feminist art worldwide.

Interlink:
For more on women using autobiography and vulnerability in their practice, see The Power of Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Women’s Art.

10. Carrie Mae Weems – “The Kitchen Table Series” (1990)

Critical Context:
Weems’s photographs, staged around a simple kitchen table, are masterpieces of storytelling. Through a sequence of vignettes, Weems explored love, power, motherhood, and Black womanhood in America. Her use of domestic space as a site of critical inquiry broke new ground in photography and narrative art.

Long-Term Influence:
Weems’s approach—blending personal narrative, social commentary, and conceptual rigor—has influenced generations of photographers and interdisciplinary artists.

Market and Institutional Value:
MoMA, Tate, and The Met all hold works from this series, and prices for Weems’s photographs have risen sharply in the last decade, mirroring a wider recognition of Black women’s centrality to the canon.

Interlink:
To learn more about how women are rewriting photographic history, see Top Contemporary Women Photographers and Their Stories.

Expanding the Field—Sculpture, Abstraction, and Cross-Disciplinary Masterpieces

11. Joan Mitchell – “Hemlock” (1956)

Critical Context:
Mitchell was a leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, and “Hemlock” represents her explosive, emotional approach to color and form. While her male peers dominated headlines, Mitchell’s works—characterized by gestural brushwork and a distinctive sense of space—redefined abstraction from the inside out.

Market Influence:
Joan Mitchell’s paintings have shattered records, with works selling for more than $20 million at auction. Her rise forced blue-chip galleries and museums to confront the gender bias within Abstract Expressionism.

Institutional Value:
Major institutions including MoMA and the Whitney now feature her paintings in key permanent collection displays.

Interlink:
Explore abstraction and the female gaze at Abstract Art and the Female Gaze: Breaking Boundaries.

12. Alma Thomas – “Resurrection” (1966)

Critical Context:
Thomas, a trailblazer as both a Black and female artist in mid-century America, produced works that combined color theory, landscape, and mosaic-like composition. “Resurrection” is a prime example of her signature style—radiating optimism and subtle protest against the exclusion she faced.

Market and Institutional Milestones:
In 2015, “Resurrection” became the first work by a Black woman to enter the White House’s permanent collection. Museum interest in her paintings has spiked, with major exhibitions at the Smithsonian and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Interlink:
For the full story of Black women’s impact on global art, see Contemporary African Female Artists: A New Global Vanguard.

13. Louise Nevelson – “Sky Cathedral” (1958)

Critical Context:
Nevelson’s monumental, wall-sized assemblages of painted wood transformed the definition of sculpture. “Sky Cathedral” exemplifies her signature approach: architectural, mysterious, and intensely personal.

Institutional Impact:
Nevelson’s work was among the first by a woman to be collected and exhibited on the same scale as her male contemporaries. Today, her sculptures are cornerstones of American museum collections.

Market Value:
Her works command strong auction prices and are now recognized as blue-chip, validating women’s contributions to postwar sculpture.

Interlink:
For more on women who shaped the language of monumental sculpture, see Famous Female Sculptors Who Transformed Public Spaces.

14. Marlene Dumas – “The Visitor” (1995)

Critical Context:
Dumas’s haunting, psychologically charged figurative paintings explore sexuality, race, and power. “The Visitor” is celebrated for its ambiguous narrative and raw, fluid handling of paint—a direct confrontation with how women’s bodies and desires are represented.

Market Disruption:
In May 2024, “The Visitor” set the record for the most expensive painting by a female artist, selling for $24.6 million. This sale pushed the market conversation around women’s art into mainstream headlines and reset benchmarks for female painters globally.

Institutional Recognition:
Dumas’s works are widely collected by top museums, and her influence is clear in the next generation of figurative artists.

Interlink:
For the latest on market-shifting events and rising female stars, see Emerging Female Artists to Watch: Global Voices Shaping Tomorrow.

15. Julie Mehretu – “Stadia II” (2004)

Critical Context:
Mehretu’s massive, layered compositions combine mapping, abstraction, and social commentary. “Stadia II” is a visual riot—part diagram, part history painting—using architectural marks and coded references to explore globalization, migration, and collective experience.

Market and Critical Power:
Mehretu is one of the highest-valued living women artists; her auction prices and institutional shows at venues like the Whitney and LACMA confirm her place at the top of contemporary abstraction.

Institutional Significance:
Her work bridges painting, installation, and social commentary, pushing museums to rethink the relationship between abstraction and identity.

Interlink:
See Influential Female Artists Shaping Contemporary Visual Art: The Definitive Guide for her role in today’s global art scene.

Performance, Photography, and Global Activism—Iconic Works That Rewired Art’s Narrative

16. Marina Abramović – “The Artist Is Present” (2010)

Critical Context:
Abramović’s three-month performance at MoMA—sitting silently and locking eyes with visitors—redefined what performance art could be. With more than 1,500 sitters, the piece became a cultural phenomenon and catalyzed a new era of participatory, durational art.

Market and Institutional Influence:
Abramović’s endurance performances and documentation command high prices in the market for time-based art. MoMA’s exhibition drew record crowds and shifted how museums exhibit and monetize performance.

Legacy:
Her work set the template for a generation of performance artists, establishing that presence, vulnerability, and direct engagement are central to the canon.

For more on women using vulnerability and directness, see The Power of Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Women’s Art.

17. Cindy Sherman – “Untitled Film Stills” (1977–80)

Critical Context:
Sherman’s 69-photo series, in which she embodies and critiques female stereotypes in cinema, changed both photography and feminist art. Her self-staging blurred the lines between author and subject, fiction and autobiography.

Market Power:
Prints from this series have fetched upwards of $3 million, with major museums treating Sherman as an essential anchor of their photography collections.

Lasting Impact:
“Untitled Film Stills” is required viewing for students, critics, and curators—a cornerstone of the contemporary canon and a trigger for generations of artists challenging the construction of identity.

For an extended dive into photography by women, see Top Contemporary Women Photographers and Their Stories.

18. Mickalene Thomas – “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires” (2010)

Critical Context:
Thomas’s reimagining of Manet’s classic painting with three Black women at its center is a direct intervention in art history. Through rhinestones, acrylic, and staged photography, she reframes who belongs in the canon and how Black female bodies are represented.

Market and Institutional Value:
Her works are in top collections worldwide, and prices have steadily increased as demand for Black women’s voices rises. Thomas’s influence stretches across painting, photography, installation, and even fashion.

Impact:
The work is both homage and critique, a milestone in correcting historical erasure and shifting aesthetic norms.

Explore more on women redefining canonical works at Iconic Artworks by Women: 25 Masterpieces That Changed Contemporary Art.

19. Shirin Neshat – “Rapture” (1999)

Critical Context:
In this two-channel video installation, Neshat uses stark desert landscapes and choreographed movement to explore gender, exile, and the politics of the body under authoritarian regimes. “Rapture” cements her place as a global leader in video art.

Institutional & Market Impact:
Collected by MoMA, Tate, and Guggenheim, Neshat’s video works command some of the highest prices for time-based media by a female artist. Her influence is seen in a wave of politically engaged video artists from the Middle East and beyond.

Legacy:
“Rapture” is more than video art—it’s a meditation on power and collective identity, now studied in art and film programs worldwide.

For deeper context on Middle Eastern and diaspora artists, see Contemporary African Female Artists: A New Global Vanguard.

20. Betye Saar – “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima” (1972)

Critical Context:
Saar’s mixed-media assemblage uses the racist Aunt Jemima caricature, transforming her into a figure of Black female power and resistance. By subverting found objects, Saar pioneered both Black feminist and American conceptual art.

Market and Institutional Value:
Her work was a catalyst for museums to collect assemblage and installation by Black women, pushing institutional boundaries on what qualifies as “fine art.”

Influence:
This piece inspired generations of artists addressing race, memory, and the violence of representation in American culture.

For more on activism and social commentary, see Art and Activism: How Female Artists Drive Social Change.

The Future Is Now—Final Masterpieces and the Next Wave of Art History

21. Njideka Akunyili Crosby – “Mother and Child” (2016)

Critical Context:
Akunyili Crosby fuses Nigerian and Western art histories through painting, photo-collage, and fabric motifs. “Mother and Child” is a layered meditation on diaspora, intimacy, and the collision of cultures—offering a new language for global contemporary painting.

Market and Institutional Recognition:
Her paintings have sold for over $3 million at auction, and she is collected by MoMA, Tate, and LACMA. Akunyili Crosby’s rapid rise exemplifies how institutional support, collector interest, and unique perspective can drive market correction for women of color.

Influence:
Her approach to identity, hybridity, and materiality is influencing the next generation of artists across Africa, Europe, and North America.

For further exploration of global African talent, see Contemporary African Female Artists: A New Global Vanguard.

22. Jenny Holzer – “Truisms” (1977–79)

Critical Context:
Holzer’s “Truisms”—provocative aphorisms installed on LED signs, billboards, and urban spaces—made language itself an art form. Her work blurred the boundary between public and private, art and advertising, and forced audiences to question power and truth in everyday life.

Market and Institutional Presence:
Holzer’s installations and prints are owned by every major modern art institution, and her public commissions span the globe.

Impact:
Her direct, urgent textual interventions are precursors to today’s culture of viral statements and protest art.

For the lineage from text art to today’s visual activism, see Art and Activism: How Female Artists Drive Social Change.

23. Sarah Lucas – “Au Naturel” (1994)

Critical Context:
Lucas’s absurd, biting sculpture—made from everyday objects like a mattress, cucumbers, and oranges—satirizes the sexual politics of the male gaze. “Au Naturel” is both a critique of and a riff on art history’s obsession with the nude.

Institutional & Market Reception:
Lucas is now one of the UK’s most celebrated sculptors. Her work is represented in the Tate, and her market is surging as feminist and conceptual art command more attention.

Influence:
Lucas’s irreverence has influenced generations of artists who interrogate gender and sexuality through sculpture and installation.

See more on women transforming sculpture at Famous Female Sculptors Who Transformed Public Spaces.

24. Kara Walker – “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby” (2014)

Critical Context:
Walker’s monumental sugar sculpture, installed in Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory, interrogated slavery, labor, and Black womanhood in the context of industrial history. The ephemeral work drew hundreds of thousands and sparked worldwide dialogue about race and public memory.

Market & Institutional Shockwaves:
Though the sculpture was temporary, Walker’s work—paper silhouettes, drawings, installations—commands top auction prices and is sought after by every major American and European museum.

Lasting Legacy:
“A Subtlety” changed the discourse on public art, race, and the power of impermanent, site-specific work.

For more on public memory and monumental art, see Famous Female Sculptors Who Transformed Public Spaces.

25. Simone Leigh – “Brick House” (2019)

Critical Context:
Leigh’s 16-foot-tall bronze bust, installed on New York’s High Line, fuses Black womanhood, architecture, and African symbolism. “Brick House” is at once intimate and monumental—a reimagining of what public monuments can (and should) be in the 21st century.

Institutional and Market Validation:
Leigh’s work was the centerpiece of the U.S. Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale and acquired by the Whitney. She is now one of the highest-profile living sculptors, with a rapidly appreciating market.

Impact:
“Brick House” is already a touchstone for a new generation of artists and curators seeking to redefine who belongs in public space and art history.
For Leigh’s influence and more on monumentality, see Famous Female Sculptors Who Transformed Public Spaces.

From Margin to Canon—What These 25 Masterpieces Mean

Each work featured here is not just a product of its time, but a force that changed the possibilities for all who came after. The canon of contemporary art has been irreversibly expanded by women—across mediums, continents, and histories.

But these are not finish lines. The ongoing valuation, acquisition, and interpretation of these works will decide whether the art world’s claims to “equity” are reality or rhetoric.

Further Related Vital Reading:

• Influential Female Artists Shaping Contemporary Visual Art: The Definitive Guide

• The Representation Problem: Why Female Artists Still Struggle in the Art Market

• Emerging Female Artists to Watch: Global Voices Shaping Tomorrow

• Abstract Art and the Female Gaze: Breaking Boundaries

FAQ

Q: What are the most famous artworks by female artists in contemporary art?
A: Essential works include Marina Abramović’s “The Artist Is Present,” Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirror Rooms,” Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills,” Faith Ringgold’s “Tar Beach,” and Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party,” among others.

Q: Why have women’s masterpieces often been overlooked in art history?
A: Systemic bias, sexism, and institutional gatekeeping have long undervalued women’s contributions, confining many masterpieces to obscurity until recent decades.
For deeper context, visit our guide to influential female artists.

Q: How are contemporary women artists changing the art world today?
A: Through radical experimentation, activism, and cross-genre innovation, women artists are leading movements in abstraction, performance, digital, and activist art—often centering identity and social justice.

Q: Where can I see these iconic works in person?
A: Many are held by major institutions like MoMA, Tate Modern, Zeitz MOCAA, and featured in major biennials and global exhibitions.