Paula Rego (Lisbon, 1935 – London, 2022) was a Portuguese painter who, during her adolescence attended St. Julian’s School and went in 1952 to London, at the early age of sixteen years old. In London, she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she met her future husband, Victor Willing. Her talent was immediately recognised by her teachers, and she won the first prize of the Summer project, in 1954. Back in Portugal, she had her first solo exhibition in 1965, at the National Society of Fine Arts, and 4 years later, she represented Portugal at the 9th São Paulo Biennial. In the 1970’s she consolidated the success of her work: a second exhibition, at São Mamede Gallery, in 1971, was followed by five exhibitions in Lisbon and Oporto, together with the representation of Portugal, once again, at the 13th São Paulo Biennial, in 1975. In these first years, she developed her very specific themes, portraying childhood stories and her personal experiences, which became a constant source for her work. The surreal compositions of the first years gave place, in the 1980’s, to portraits of animals and hybrid beings, filled with an allegorical sense. In 1985, she represented Great Britain at the São Paulo Biennial, and in the same year, she had her first exhibition in the United States of America, at the Art Palace, in New York. In 1988, there was a first retrospective exhibition of her work, at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and in 1990, she occupied the first place, chronologically, of the list of associated artists of the National Gallery. The 1990’s were a decade of particular international recognition of her work, and coincided with a return to figurative language in her paintings, now more naturalist, but always with a narrative and dramatic character. In 2004, she was decorated with the Grand-Cross of the Order of St. James of the Sword, by the President of the Republic, and, in 2009, the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego opened, in Cascais, to receive her work and her husband’s. The following distinctions stand out: the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Grand Prize, in 2013, and the Cultural Merit Medal of the Portuguese Government, in 2019. In 2017, the son of the artist, Nick Willing, directed the documentary “Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories”, shown in the BBC in the United Kingdom and later in Portugal. In November 2021, the 111 Gallery, that represented the artist since the beginning of her career, organised an homage exhibition.
FMV, December 2022
