Sarah Helena de Kay Gilder (1846 - 28 May 1916) was an American painter, illustrator, and cultural tastemaker from New York City.

She studied art at the Cooper Union Institute as well as at the National Academy of Design in the 1870s, during the first years that life classes were open to women.

[2] She also as studied privately with artists Winslow Homer, John La Farge[2] and Albert Pinkham Ryder.

[4] In 1884, the artist John La Farge created a stained glass panel to commemorate the Gilder's tenth wedding anniversary.

Her daughter Dorothea de Kay Gilder was a subject of painter Cecilia Beaux[9][10] and had a short career as a stage actress.

[11] Helena de Kay Gilder's best known work was cited as "her figure pictures, 'The Young Mother' and 'The Last Arrow' " by The Art Amateur.

[16] Helena and her family were the subjects of numerous portraits by several of close friends and artists, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens,[17] Cecilia Beaux,[18][9][19][20] and Winslow Homer.

[citation needed] Gilder believed that women were "men’s equal, and almost as well educated, as good and as intelligent in ordinary matters,” but opposed granting them the right to vote.