In honor of Pride Month, we are excited to celebrate some of the LGBTQ+ artists who’ve made a huge impact on the art world. Here you’ll find just 5 of the world’s most talented artists whose work has been incredibly influential on their medium of art.

1. Patricia Cronin

As a painter and sculptor, Patricia Cronin works to reflect her own life back to the world through her installations. Showcasing the perspective of a lesbian and feminist, she works to critique marriage, politics, and gender through her work. One of the best examples of this is through the 2002 Memorial to a Marriage, which showcases her partner Deborah Kass and herself in bed.

2. Zanele Muholi

Originally from South Africa, photographer and videographer Zanele Muholi focuses on black queer embodiment within their work. Muholi’s images include black trans and intersex individuals and also hopes to bring awareness to the HIV/AIDS crisis and corrective sexual assault issues within her home country. Recent work acts as a commentary on recent events in South Africa, which transforms everyday images into a political commentary.

3. Robert Rauschenberg

Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) started making art in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Robert Rauschenberg collaborated with artists such as Merce Cunningham and John Cage during his career. His graphic art and painting influenced many different art forms, including sculpture and contemporary dance. He is possibly best known for the Combines, which was a series combining everyday objects and using them as art materials.

4. Catherine Opie

Born in 1961, Catherine Opie is a photographer who is best known for trying to answer questions about sexual identity and an individual’s relationship with their community. One of Opie’s most influential pieces was entitled Self-Portrait/Nursing, which showcases the pain of the artist’s childhood years while bringing up a child of her own in the image.

5. Beauford Delaney

Beauford Delaney was a prominent figure within the Harlem Renaissance and was known for his work as an abstract expressionist. During his life, he struggled with the pressures of being gay and black, which are reflected in his work. He was known for painting colorful Modernist work, which depicted New York and its popular jazz clubs. Delaney was regularly commissioned to create portraits of other influential black figures, such as James Baldwin.