The News
Nineteenth-century paintings of unhappy brides are enjoying new life among modern online audiences as potent depictions of the struggles women still face in male-dominated spaces.
During the 1800s, artists across Europe — most of whom were men — sought to capture women’s plight, and the “emotional and physical fallout of an unwanted marriage or engagement” amid changing societal views around love and marriage, Artnet News wrote.
One painting that has found a loyal fanbase on social media shows a bride-to-be with a sardonic expression surrounded by fussing women: Her cynicism and resignation has made the work “a potent icon of women’s rage today,” the outlet noted.
AD