Discover Paula Rego
This catalogue presents all the works in the exhibition, alongside a collection of new texts that together offer an intense and nuanced portrait of an artist who never ceased to challenge – whether aesthetically or politically.
British-Portuguese Paula Rego (1935–2022) carved out her place in international art history with a self-possessed, uncompromising expression and a burning commitment to fighting oppression and lack of freedom.
Rego grew up in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship, which imposed strong constraints, especially on women’s freedom. This experience came to shape Rego’s long career, during which she dissected the relationship between gender, the body and power in a dark, fantastical visual language inspired by fairy tales and myths.
At a time when authoritarian forces are on the rise across the world and women’s right to control their own bodies is under pressure, Rego’s images feel more relevant than ever.
Browse a few pages from the publication here (link to external webpage).
The exhibition Paula Rego – Dance Among Thorns presents Rego’s powerful and unsettling oeuvre in its full breadth, including her early interest in Edvard Munch’s art. The catalogue presents all the exhibited works and a collection of new texts by the exhibition’s curator Kari J. Brandtzæg as well as by Catarina Alfaro, Isabel Freire and Jennifer Higgie. Together they sketch an intense and nuanced portrait of an artist who never ceased to challenge – whether aesthetically or politically.
