Paula Rego, the internationally celebrated Portuguese-born British artist known for her visceral and unsettling work, has died age 87.
The Victoria Miro gallery announced Rego’s death on Wednesday, saying: “She died peacefully this morning, after a short illness, at home in north London, surrounded by her family. Our heartfelt thoughts are with them.”
It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of the Portuguese-born, British artist Dame Paula Rego at the age of 87. She died peacefully this morning, after a short illness, at home in North London, surrounded by her family. Our heartfelt thoughts are with them. pic.twitter.com/hFXdIZeTtb
— Victoria Miro (@victoriamiro) June 8, 2022
The painter, who recently had a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Britain, rose to prominence after exhibiting with the London Group in the 1960s alongside David Hockney. In the years following she spent her career focusing on women’s rights, and abortion in particular.
Having grown up in a privileged family in Portugal under Salazar’s fascist dictatorship, Rego was fascinated by fairytales and her political paintings span themes of power, possession, childhood and sexual transgression.
In an interview with the Guardian in 2019, Rego, who had previously spoken about her own abortions, said that “making abortions illegal is forcing women to the backstreet solution”.
She added: “I’m doing what I can with my work but both men and women need to stand up to this. It affects men, too. You don’t get pregnant on your own, do you?”
More details soon …