Paula Rego

(Portugal, 26/01/1935 - 08/06/2022)

The Policeman's Daughter (1987)

Born in 1935, three years into Salazar’s fascist dictatorship, Rego grew up in a time of extreme oppression for women. Experiencing this at such a young age has greatly informed Rego’s work which is characterised by her powerful, often unsettling figurative narratives that explore themes of gender, power and politics. 

Moving to London in the early 1950s, Rego enrolled in the Slade School of Art where she developed her distinctive style rooted in storytelling and symbolism with psychological depth. Returning to Portugal in the 1960s, she confronted the bloody reality of Portuguese life in her paintings.

In 1965, Rego exhibited in group shows in London and was subject to her first solo exhibition at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon, before representing Portugal at the 1969 São Paulo Biennial. The following year, Rego was the first artist-in-residence at London’s National Gallery.

Her distinctive canvases pose a challenge to those who attempt to neatly categorise them within Modernist paradigms. Returning to the figurative tradition of painting at a time when abstraction was still dominating, she used heroic scale, harsh lighting and theatrical compositions to challenge traditional family portraits and expose the tensions that lie within them, while proposing a new iconography for the female heroine.

Rego’s legacy lies in her fearless confrontation of taboo subjects, her unwavering advocacy for women’s rights, particularly reproductive rights in Portugal, and her ability to fuse personal and political narratives with emotional intensity and artistic innovation. Her work remains a touchstone for feminist and narrative art practices worldwide.

Image: Paula Rego, The Policeman's Daughter (1987). Acrylic on paper on canvas, 213 x 152 cm. Victoria Milo Gallery, U.K.