Paula Rego
Power Games
28 Sep 2024 - 02 Feb 2025
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Julian Salinas
Paula Rego, Power Games, exhibition view at Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo Credit: Max Ehrengruber, Jonas Schaffter
Curator: Eva Reifert
The Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego (1935–2022) has emerged as one of the most singular figurative painters of recent decades. An activist, feminist, and creator of sumptuous and unsettling images, she has exerted a palpable influence in the art scenes of her native Portugal and the United Kingdom, where she chose to make her home. When she died in 2022, she left a sizable oeuvre that reflects her interest in investigating “power games and hierarchies”—avowedly one of her favorite subjects.
The extensive monographic exhibition Paula Rego. Power Games at the Kunstmuseum Basel singles out this central interest of the artist in the dynamics of power as its leitmotif. It is the first museum exhibition devoted to Rego’s work in the Germanspeaking countries and the first major monographic show since her death. Presenting around 120 paintings and pastels as well as several figures (‘bonecos’) and documents, the visually stunning exhibition invites visitors to explore Rego’s unforgettable universe and will help broad audiences gain a better understanding of this eminent artist’s work.
Divided into thematic sections, the show brings together key works from several decades, including ones in which Rego grapples with the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal. Other central motifs are related to her involvement in activism against the restrictive abortion legislation in her native country and against British participation in the Iraq War. Throughout her oeuvre, Rego interrogates wonted hierarchies and depicts women in diverse roles. The exhibition showcases both the spectacular pastels in large formats for which the artist draws on sources of inspiration ranging from literary narratives to Disney films, and examples of her technically brilliant work as a maker of fine art prints.
The exhibition takes the central interest expressed by the artist seriously: hence its title, Power Games. The thematic rather than chronological arrangement lets it turn a spotlight on themes that Rego repeatedly revisited, sometimes over the course of decades. The first part features works that scrutinize family ties and dependencies as well as the power dynamics between man and woman; state violence and mechanisms of repression play a recurring role, in part in light of the dictatorship that ruled the artist’s native Portugal until the 1970s. The second part of the exhibition gathers Rego’s unconventional heroines: female figures from popular culture and literature who shatter the bounds of the roles imposed on them, but also women who have obtained illegal abortions or are crushed by the weight of social and personal challenges. The presentation concludes with Angel (1998), the artist’s most famous work and an embodiment of intrepid fortitude.
The Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego (1935–2022) has emerged as one of the most singular figurative painters of recent decades. An activist, feminist, and creator of sumptuous and unsettling images, she has exerted a palpable influence in the art scenes of her native Portugal and the United Kingdom, where she chose to make her home. When she died in 2022, she left a sizable oeuvre that reflects her interest in investigating “power games and hierarchies”—avowedly one of her favorite subjects.
The extensive monographic exhibition Paula Rego. Power Games at the Kunstmuseum Basel singles out this central interest of the artist in the dynamics of power as its leitmotif. It is the first museum exhibition devoted to Rego’s work in the Germanspeaking countries and the first major monographic show since her death. Presenting around 120 paintings and pastels as well as several figures (‘bonecos’) and documents, the visually stunning exhibition invites visitors to explore Rego’s unforgettable universe and will help broad audiences gain a better understanding of this eminent artist’s work.
Divided into thematic sections, the show brings together key works from several decades, including ones in which Rego grapples with the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal. Other central motifs are related to her involvement in activism against the restrictive abortion legislation in her native country and against British participation in the Iraq War. Throughout her oeuvre, Rego interrogates wonted hierarchies and depicts women in diverse roles. The exhibition showcases both the spectacular pastels in large formats for which the artist draws on sources of inspiration ranging from literary narratives to Disney films, and examples of her technically brilliant work as a maker of fine art prints.
The exhibition takes the central interest expressed by the artist seriously: hence its title, Power Games. The thematic rather than chronological arrangement lets it turn a spotlight on themes that Rego repeatedly revisited, sometimes over the course of decades. The first part features works that scrutinize family ties and dependencies as well as the power dynamics between man and woman; state violence and mechanisms of repression play a recurring role, in part in light of the dictatorship that ruled the artist’s native Portugal until the 1970s. The second part of the exhibition gathers Rego’s unconventional heroines: female figures from popular culture and literature who shatter the bounds of the roles imposed on them, but also women who have obtained illegal abortions or are crushed by the weight of social and personal challenges. The presentation concludes with Angel (1998), the artist’s most famous work and an embodiment of intrepid fortitude.