Long excluded from institutional art tuition, women were belatedly allowed to study drawing, painting and sculpture and to assert themselves as professional artists. This publication studies the processes of their access to ateliers and schools in the 19th and 20th centuries as well as their professionalisation. It cross-references biographical and familial data with social, economic and political perspectives in order to map out key points in this history, retrace individual artistic paths and identify collective educational dynamics.