Art · 20th century
1935–2022 · Portuguese-British
Figurative narrative painting — storytelling, folk tale and political protest
Paula Rego built a fierce figurative art out of folk tales, nursery rhymes, Portuguese village life and the politics of women's bodies. Her women are heavy, defiant and never decorative, most often worked in pastel on a huge scale, and her series on illegal abortion is credited with helping change Portuguese law.
A woman dances alone on a moonlit clifftop while couples and a family circle behind her (1988)
Tate, London
The Dance — painted as her husband, the painter Victor Willing, was dying
No free image available (likely still in copyright) · see it on Wikipedia
A girl scrubs her father's boot in a dark kitchen while a black cat watches from the window (1987)
Private collection
The Policeman's Daughter — an image of the Salazar years read as obedience and suppressed rage
No free image available (likely still in copyright) · see it on Wikipedia
A series of large pastels of a woman crouching, howling and baring her teeth on all fours (1994)
Various collections
The Dog Women, modelled by Lila Nunes, her studio assistant and lifelong model
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Ten pastels of women alone on beds, buckets and floors after illegal terminations, made after a failed referendum (1998)
Various collections (versions at Tate and Casa das Histórias)
Made after Portugal's 1998 referendum failed; credited with helping win the 2007 vote that legalised abortion
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A father is dressed — or undressed — by his wife and daughters in a bedroom, while a saint kills a dragon on the wall (1988)
Private collection (Saatchi Collection)
The Family — companion to The Dance from the same year
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A mural of women from the Bible and from history, painted during a year's residency at a London gallery (1990)
National Gallery, London
Painted as the National Gallery's first Associate Artist; inspired by Carlo Crivelli's altarpiece
No free image available (likely still in copyright) · see it on Wikipedia