Acrylic on canvas

Signature on the back

100 x 100 x 1.6 cm.

39.4 x 39.4 x 0.6 inch.

Unique

 

The Unstoppable Collection

Born in 1748, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman and an early widow, she settled in Paris and became a leading figure in the French Revolution. Her plea for the legal equality of men and women is illustrated in her Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens, a veritable feminist manifesto of 1791.

 

Historical background

On April 8, 1791, equal inheritance rights for men and women were introduced, followed by divorce on August 30, 1792, and civil recognition for women on September 20, 1792, all of which Olympe had demanded.

But these advances were short-lived, as Napoleon's Civil Code, promulgated on March 21, 1804, soon restored the full powers of the head of the family. Only divorce temporarily escaped this regression: it was not abolished until 1816.

She died guillotined.