Mini Post

Brigette Alves
1/23/2017

Paula Rego

     Rego was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1935, but currently lives in London where she produced most of her art. She was sent to the United Kingdom to attend The Grove School but did not like it so she then went to the Slade School of Fine Arts. Here is where she grew in her skills to their fullest potential. In the beginning of her career, she would paint murals for her fathers electrical factory and then joined The London Group where she began to exhibit her works. Throughout her career, her styles have moved around from collage to abstraction and in betweens. Regos works are based on and represent feminism, life in Portugal, sexuality, struggles and short stories.

  When you look at Paula Rego's art, you can see many different stories. The more you look at her pastel paintings, the more you see a mysterious story unravel. The touches of feminism throughout her works present the audience with the unconscious reality of female oppression.

 

Here is an image by Rego that makes the audience question, what are these ladies intentions with this man? Maybe they are a family and the mom and daughter are helping the father get ready for work. If so, this image then represents the patriarchy of society, women serving the man. Is this sexual? The image becomes a story and the story is what ever the looker wants it to be.

This painting is called "Dog Woman", and is one of my favorites. To me this represents womens oppression throughout history. The symbolism here is that a woman is like a dog. A dog obeys its owner, learns tricks to please its owner, and a dogs ultimate purpose is to make the owner happy and feel joy. By Rego drawing this painting, it embodies this idea, this reality.