Exhibition inaugurated today with graphic work of Paula Rego
The exhibition ‘Olhar para Dentro’, which gathers 60 years of production of Paula Rego’s graphic work, with about 200 pieces, including new donations by the artist, is inaugurated today at Casa das Histórias in Cascais.
According to the D. Luís I Foundation, which organizes the exhibition with the Municipality of Cascais, within the framework of the ‘Museums Quarter’ program, the exhibition opens at 6:30 p.m., and will be open until November 17, at House of Stories Paula Rego.
Curated by Catarina Alfaro, the exhibition will also present preparatory drawings for the execution of the engravings, plates of copper and more recent and less known works.
‘Look Inside’ includes some donations from the artist, who decided to complete, with 28 more prints, the collection of her graphic work belonging to the City Hall of Cascais, the D. Luís I Foundation and the House of Stories Paula Rego.
‘With all her creative strength and freedom, Paula Rego carries these works of a strong emotional and social criticism in addressing issues such as abortion or female genital mutilation. The artist uses unreal and frightening images, referring to the most horrible and monstrous human scene, “describes the text about the exhibition released by the foundation.
Another dimension of his work, that of fantasy, is also revealed through the presence of fantastic beings and the transfiguration of humans in other animal beings, a universe Paula Rego observed in the works of Francisco de Goya, one of his great influences, for this also represented in this exhibition ‘, with two engravings from the painter’s private collection, adds the same source.
Among other themes, the exhibition also reveals the taste of Paula Rego for the universe of traditional children’s literature, through a set of engravings inspired by English songs and nursery rhymes, which the artist has known since childhood when she was educated at the English school St. Julian’s School in Carcavelos.
The 84-year-old painter will be honored by the Ministry of Culture with the Cultural Merit Medal on July 16 at the artist’s studio in London.
Born in Lisbon, Paula Rego, who turned 84 in January of this year, began drawing as a child and went to the British capital at the age of 17 to study at the Slade School of Fine Art.
In London, she met her husband, the English artist Victor Willing, who died in 1988, whose work Paula Rego has shown several times at the Casa das Histórias museum in Cascais, which holds an important collection of works by the author.
In recent decades, the painter has addressed political issues such as abuse of power, and social, such as abortion, among others in the female universe.
In 2010, she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the British Crown for her contribution to the arts. In 2016 received the medal of honor of the city of Lisbon.
Paula Rego is represented in several of the most important European public collections and prestigious exhibitions in museums and exhibition spaces from all over the world.
