Judy Chicago, an early feminist artist, challenged the "white-men-only" art world with her art. Chicago legally changed her last name to her hometown name to symbolize her struggle trough identity after becoming a widow when she was only 23-years-old. Her search of identity is also shown in her art works, which aimed to elevate women in society and history. Like her most famous work, The Dinner Party, Marie Antoinette from the Great Ladies series memorizes the contribution of the last Queen of France- Marie Antoinette.

In this piece, Judy Chicago uses spray paint on canvas to make an even texture. She developed the butterfly motif on this painting. In many religions, butterfly is a symbol of the soul after people die. So in Chicago's work, she placed a thought that the great people will live forever in our mind. The use of bright color and the gradual change of color from the center to outside makes the design looks like a sun, which also glorifies Marie Antoinette. On the rim of the painting, Chicago wrote "Marie Antoinette—during her reign women artists enjoyed great success. But the French Revolution --which brought democracy to men-caused women artists to lose their status while the Queen lost her head." Chicago pitied that great woman that raised the status of women artists died so early in which somehow effected the time and difficulty for women to get back in the art party.