Paula Rego

Love is one of Paula Rego’s pastel works of lone single figures that she created in the 1990s and 2000s. A woman lies on a deep red fabric backdrop, her eyes staring straight ahead, and her hands folded across her heart on her chest. She may be lost in thought, thinking of her lover, but true to form Rego positions her sitter slightly awkwardly, her neck at an uncomfortable angle, suggestive of something more violent ­ – making the viewer question their initial assumptions.

• Artist Paula Rego
• Artwork Love
• Exhibition Paula Rego
• Date of work 1995
• Credit Original: Acrylic paint on paper on canvas2126 x 2740 mmTate. Purchased 1989© Paula Rego

Paula Rego was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1935 and has travelled between London and Portugal throughout her life. She studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and throughout her career she has revolutionised the way in which women are represented, playing a key role in redefining figurative art in the UK and internationally. Her early paintings in Portugal were semi-abstract, sometimes applied to violent or political subjects that revealed a love of story-telling that had been awakened in her as a child by folk-tales related by a great-aunt. She is drawn to subjects that are well known, and takes her imagery from sources as varied as Peter Pan and Mary Magdalene. Her work is part of many public collections, including Tate’s collection.

• Product Code S22216