Paula Rego

Paula Rego’s (1935–2022) paintings possess a force that few artists can match. In her adopted country of England, Rego ranks among the greats of figurative painting such as Lucian Freud and David Hockney. In her home country of Portugal, she has changed the political reality with her uncompromising art. Based on around 120 works, the exhibition traces Rego’s artistic development after her studies at the Slade School, London, in the 1950s. The show focuses on the artist’s series of works, in which her most intimate personal experiences are transformed into images of collective experience during the artistic process. They touch on sensitive themes such as political and sexualised violence and counter these with self-determination, community and affection. Her medium of choice early on was paper. The exhibition’s selection of works is complemented by various paintings and examples of the dolls that Rego produced for her compositions in the 2000s. This exhibition is the artist’s second retrospective in a German museum.