Introducing expressive, profound and ambiguous elements into his works, Paula Rego (1935-2022) gained recognition as one of the greatest artists of our time, nationally and internationally. From abstractionism to conceptualism, his pieces are part of a figurative field of their own: «the beautiful grotesque». In surreal compositions with a cruelty - both subtle and explicit - the Portuguese artist demonstrated her own imagery, the brutality of Portuguese folktales, dysfunctional family relationships, political systems and social structures. Women and girls are placed in the foreground, and animals often replace humans. Between life and art, Paula Rego demonstrated its concerns and convictions, for example, the production of the series entitled «Abortion» for agreeing with the decriminalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy. Enjoy the works of art Paula Rego? Meet 5 artists, with similarities in artistic and thematic terms with the fabulous Portuguese artist.
1.Jenny Saville
In her representations of the human form, Jenny Saville transcends the limits of classical figuration and modern abstraction. A member of the Young British Artists (YBAs), a group of painters and sculptors who rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Saville reinvigorated contemporary figurative painting by challenging the boundaries of the genre and raising questions about society's perception of the body and its potential. His work reveals a deep awareness, both intellectual and sensory, of how the body has been represented across time and across cultures - from ancient and Hindu sculpture, to Renaissance drawing and painting, to the work of modern artists such as Henri Matisse, Willem de Kooning and Pablo Picasso. Jenny Artists like Jenny Saville who challenge traditional representations of the female body are particularly grateful to Paula Rego.
2.Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud was a British artist, known for his portraits and figurative works. He was initially influenced by surrealism, but in the early 1950s his paintings tended more towards realism. At this time, Freud executed his works of art based on life studies. In his generally somber paintings, he mainly portrayed friends and family, in unsettling interiors and urban landscapes. The works became known for their psychological penetration and often uncomfortable examination of the relationship between artist and model. Such as Paula Rego, painted what was familiar and close to him in a grotesque and disturbing way.
3.Graça Morais
As the olive tree is linked to the national territory, Graça Morais is immensely immersed in the Portuguese rural atmosphere and mythology, more specifically in Trás-os-Montes, in the extreme northeast of Portugal. He divides his time between his studios in Lisbon and Vieiro-Freixiel, the village in the north of Portugal where he was born in 1948. This is where he nurtured the ideas and images that we see represented in his works, from dogs, cats and goats, to the violence of men and the cruelty of nature. Raw and natural, Graça Morais, such as Paula Rego expresses the other side of its origins, thus making known the human being, its abilities and stories. Daily life is the main theme in the artist's work, so it became essential to represent the activities of the people around her, from recording clothes, to hair, passing through the very relationship that individuals have with the earth. Graça Morais is one of the most notable Portuguese visual artists today. In addition to painting, he created illustrations for books and tile panels in various buildings such as the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Building in Lisbon, the Belarusian Metro Station in Moscow, among others. In 1983, he represented Portugal at the XVII Bienal de São Paulo and in 2008, the Contemporary Art Center was inaugurated Graça Morais (CACGM) in Bragança, designed by the architect Souto Moura, which has a nucleus of several rooms dedicated to the work of the painter.
4. Kara Walker
Kara Walker is one of the most complex and prolific American artists of her generation. He gained national and international recognition for his paper-cut silhouettes depicting historical narratives haunted by sexuality, violence and subjugation. Kara Walker also used drawings, paintings, texts, shadow puppets, film and sculpture to expose the continuing psychological damage caused by the tragic legacy of slavery. Her work proposes an examination of contemporary racial and gender stereotypes and a critical understanding of the past. The similarities between the two artists are obvious, be it through the use of stories and narration in their works, but also through figuration and criticism of society.
5.Júlio Pomar
Júlio Pomar was one of the artists with the greatest impact on the Portuguese arts of the 20th century, since the beginning of his career. Committed to social problems, he began in the neo-realism artistic movement, which resumed the aesthetic and social attitude of 19th century realism, simultaneously demonstrating the new concerns of the 20th century. For seven decades it managed to constantly reinvent itself, whether in the techniques and means used or in artistic movements. Among modern Portuguese painters, Júlio Pomar is one of the few — as Paula Rego — whose figuration, not only human, is the main theme. Many were the animals portrayed by Júlio Pomar: the pig, the monkey, the tiger, the crow, the elephant, the giraffe, the deer, the turtle, the bull, the cat, the horse, the dog, the lobo, the goat and the goat, the seagull and the fly. The humanization of beings, with representations of animals acting like human beings, became more common in 20th century artworks, with artists such as Marc Chagall, Paula Rego, Júlio Pomar, between others.
