One of the most internationally recognized Portuguese artists died this morning in London in the company of his three children, confirmed PÚBLICO along with his family and Catarina Alfaro, chief curator of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego. Born in Lisbon, Paula Rego, who turned 87 this January, started painting as a child and left for the British capital at the age of just 17 to study at the Slade School of Fine Arts.
The government, together with the President of the Republic, will issue a decree on national mourning in connection with the death of the artist.
In recent decades, the artist has addressed political issues such as abuse of power and social issues such as abortion in the female universe, among others. Born on January 26, 1935 in Lisbon, she was awarded, among other things, the Turner Prize in 1989 and the Grand Prix Amadeo de Sousa Cardoso in 2013, as well as the Grand Cross of the Military Order. Sant Yago da Espada in 2004. In 2010, he received an MBE from Queen Isabella II with an officer’s degree for his contribution to the arts. And in 2016, he received the Medal of Honor from the city of Lisbon.
Paula Rego was considered one of the 25 most influential women of the year for Financial Times last year, the Portuguese artist appeared next to names like US House of Representatives President Nancy Pelosi and whistleblower Francis Haugen, who revealed the inner secrets of the social network Facebook.
“Fighting against a deeply traditional and religious family environment in Portugal and later, mid-career, in the male-dominated London art world, Paula Rego has established herself as arguably the most significant figurative artist of our time.”
Paula Rego held her first major solo exhibition at the end of 1988.
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“Drama, Violence and Symbolism” by Paula Rego’s works are highlighted in this list Financial Timeswhich reminds of his wonderful exhibition at the Tate Britain, In London. Billed as the largest and most comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work in the English capital since the 1960s, the exhibition ran at the London Museum from July 7 to October 24, 2021.
“I’m trying to get justice for women… at least in imagery… revenge too,” she told the newspaper. Financial Times.
Paula Rego/Museum of the President of the Republic
Paula Rego was chosen by the artist to create the official portrait of the former President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio. In the oil painting, the painter depicts the president sitting cross-legged with his arms tensed at his feet; a bust of the Republic appears on a table to his left; the green curtain behind it and the red and red cloth on the table are reminiscent of the chromatism of the Portuguese flag. The painting can be seen in the Official Portrait Gallery of the Museum of the President of the Republic. Although the portrait was completed in 2005, it was only unveiled in 2006, just before the end of Jorge Sampaio’s term.
Paula Rego studied in the 1960s at the Slade School of Art in London, where she settled permanently since the 1970s but with regular visits to Portugal, where a museum was opened in 2009 housing some of her work, Casa das Historias in Cascais. It was in London that she met her husband, the English artist Victor Willing, who died in 1988, whose work Paula Rego had already exhibited several times at the Casa das Histórias, which houses an important collection of the author’s work.
