Paula Rego
Learn about the artist's universe through a text accompanied by a selection of works from the exhibition “All I want – Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020”
By Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes
Drawing has provided the constant underpinning for Paula Rego’s work, from the naive figuration during her years of training at the Slade School of Art to her political collages about a country under dictatorship, from narrative pieces in acrylic to large-format pastel works, and from studies in pencil and watercolour to etchings and aquatint images.
The girdle (1995) by Paula RegoOriginal Source: Private Collection on loan to Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
The girdle, 1995
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
160 x 120 cm
Private Collection on loan to Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, inv. NO 0032
Angel (1998) by Paula RegoOriginal Source: Collection Ostrich Arts Ltd
Angel, 1998
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
180 x 130 cm
Collection Ostrich Arts Ltd
The constant thread running through the artist’s work is the imaginary reinvention of the literature of authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Eça de Queiroz, Franz Kafka, Hans Christian Andersen and Martin McDonagh. Rego seeks to “integrate eternal stories into our contemporary mythology and subjective experience through painting”. Rego creates an utterly original figurative language based on those stories, be they traditional tales, fairy tales, novels or plays.
Mother (1997) by Paula RegoCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Mother, 1997
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
195 x 145 x 6 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 98P605
Vanitas (2006) by Paula RegoCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Vanitas, 2006
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
110 x 130 cm; 130 x 120 cm; 110 x 130 cm
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, inv. 06P1372
The models for the main characters in Rego’s pictorial tales are people from the artist’s own inner circle or childish and grotesque three-dimensional “dolls” that she makes and incorporates into symbolic and fantastical scenes.
Painted from direct observation, the models portray individual feelings and trauma, but also collective and female ones, especially in the “Abortion” series, a political manifesto addressing Portugal’s first referendum on the voluntary termination of pregnancy. Rego’s vivid paintings offer a haunting portrait of contemporary society and, at the same time, human nature itself.
Untitled no.5, from the series “Abortion" (1998) by Paula RegoOriginal Source: Private Collection
Untitled no.5, from the series “Abortion", 1998
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
110 x 100 cm
Private Collection
Border Patrol: Self-Portrait with Lila, reflection and Ana (2004) by Paula RegoOriginal Source: Private Collection
Border Patrol: Self-Portrait with Lila, reflection and Ana, 2004
Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium
100 x 80 cm
Collection Paulo Teixeira Augusto
The Princess and the Pea (1978) by Paula RegoOriginal Source: Collection Manuel de Brito
The Princess and the Pea, 1978
Fabric, wool, plastic, metal and kapok
78 x 45 x 23 cm
Collection Manuel de Brito
Learn more about the artist:
Paula Rego: Giving Fear a Face | Heni Talks (in English)
Exhibition "Paula Rego | Obedience and Defiance" | MK Gallery (in English)
How to Draw Like Paula Rego | Tate (in English)
Selection of works presented at the exhibition All I want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020, in its first moment at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, within the scope of the cultural program that takes place in parallel to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021.
Exhibition organized by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in co-production with the Center of Contemporary Creation Olivier Debré, Tours, and with the collaboration of the Plano Nacional das Artes (Portugal).
Curators:
Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand
Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes
Selection of online resources Maria de Brito Matias
Learn more about Paula Rego's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: The Theatre of the Body
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