Paula Rego

Paula Rego is an artist who loves a story and the best way for her to tell it is through her art.

She was born in Portugal in 1935 to well off, educated parents.  Much of her childhood was spent with her Portuguese grandmother and great aunt who loved to entertain her with Portuguese folktales. These old stories fostered her lifelong interest in painting “the narrative”.

Paula studied art in London at “the Slade”  from 1952-1956 and she has lived most of her adult life in England.  Although she has lived in London for fifty years, her work remains Portuguese in it's inspiration even when she explores English subjects such as Hogarth's Marriage A la Mode or Jane Eyre.

Paula Rego’s paintings and etchings tell a story, it may be autobiographical, or based on a fairy tale, literature, a historical or current event .  All the paintings and prints I have seen have human figures (often woman or girls) or animals or both.
Rego is interested in the everyday but not conventional every day.  She enjoys the unconventional, the stuff that is swept under the carpet, the things we aren’t proud of but happen none the less.