MPM Opening exhibition "PAULA REGO"

The exhibition #paularego (b. 1935) presents the work of an uncompromising artist of extraordinary imaginative power, Rego redefined figurative art and revolutionised the way in which women are represented. The exhibition tells the story of this artist's remarkable life, highlighting the personal nature of much of her work and the socio-political context in which it is rooted. It reveals her broad range of references, from comic strips to history paintings. Featuring over 80 works including collage, paintings, large-scale pastels, drawings and etchings, the show spans Rego's early work from the 1960s to her richly layered, staged scenes of the first two decades of this century.
 
In her paintings, collages and drawings from the 1960s to 70s, Rego passionately and fiercely opposed the Portuguese dictatorship, using a range of sources for inspiration including advertisements, caricatures and news stories. She also explored folk tales as representations of human psyche and behaviour, as with Brancaflor – The Devil and the Devil's Wife in Bed 1975. Rego abandoned collage in 1980 and returned to painting, combining childhood memories with her experiences as a woman, wife and lover. The exhibition includes major paintings from this period such as examples from 'The Vivian Girls' series, in which girls rebel against a coercive society, and the seminal works that established Rego's reputation.

Throughout her career, Rego has been fascinated with storytelling and this imbues much of her work. The exhibition includes prints from her series Nursery Rhymes 1989 in which Rego explores the strangeness and cruelty of traditional British children's songs. As the first artist-in-residence at the National Gallery, Rego also took inspiration from art history, weaving references to old masters such as Hogarth and Velázquez into paintings in which the protagonists are women, exploring their struggle and their journey towards emancipation, as in The Artist in Her Studio, 1993.
 
The exhibition features Rego's large pastels of single, female figures from the 1990s to 2000s, including 'Abortion' series, some of the artist's most celebrated and arresting pictures. Works from the 'Abortion' series, which the artist was proud to see used to campaign for the legalisation of abortion in Portugal, depict women in the aftermath of illegal abortions. Possession 2004, another major series of pastels rarely exhibited, combines Rego's personal experience of depression and therapy with inspiration from 19th century staged photographs of women diagnosed as suffering from 'hysteria'. 

Further information in the press release to download