Private tour of Paula Rego: From Mind to Hand at Marlborough Fine Art

Considered one of the leading figurative artists of the day, Paula Rego has a career that spans over half a century. Fundamental to Rego’s working practice is her need to draw.  It underlies her method and remains at the core of all aspects of her work: paintings, pastels and prints.

Often working from literature, folk tales or religious texts it is the female who dominates Rego's imagery. Depictions of the mother, lover, sister and carer create the narratives which are imbued with ambiguous sexual undertones and dark secrets.  

Rego learnt methods of observation and representation when a student at the Slade, as she states: “Drawing from the model is more spontaneous than drawing from the imagination… I think if you have something to look at and try and get it, you find that all sorts of things happen.”

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Paula Rego (b. 1935, Lisbon) trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1952-56). In 1990, she was appointed artist-in-residence at the National Gallery, London. Her work has been exhibited in many of the major museums worldwide. In 2004 she was awarded the Grã Cruz da Ordem de Sant'Iago da Espada by the President of Portugal and a museum dedicated to Rego's work, the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, was opened in Cascais, Portugal in 2009. In 2010, Rego was made a Dame of the British Empire. Her work is part of numerous public collections including the Arts Council, London, England; Berardo Collection, Lisbon; National Gallery, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate Gallery, Liverpool; and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. She lives and works in London.