Work of Paula Rego auctioned for 3.5 million

The panel 'Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney's 'Fantasia', in Paula Rego, was auctioned in London for 3.5 million euros, a new record for a work by the Portuguese artist, confirmed auction house Christie's.

The final price was 3.065 million pounds (3.54 million euros at current exchange rates), exceeding the stipulated base of 2.2 million pounds (2.5 million euros).

The sale took place at the night auction of works from the 20th/21st century, where there are 52 lots, with works by artists such as Lucian Freud, Peter Doig, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, George Condo, Marlene Dumas and Lucio Fontana.

Executed in two panels, the artist's piece with the original title "Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney's 'Fantasia'", from 1995, goes up for auction for the first time. Inspired by the film by American director Walt Disney, the "Dancing Ostriches" series was previously part of the Saatchi Collection, created for the Hayward Gallery exhibition "Spellbound: Art and Film", in 1996, and has been shown frequently over the last three decades.

It was exhibited, in particular, at Tate Liverpool (1997), in the United Kingdom, at the Queen Sofia National Museum (2007-08), in Madrid, Spain, at the Musée de l'Orangerie, in Paris, France (2018-19), and at Kestner Gesellschaft, in Hannover, Germany (2022-23).

In the book by writer Agustina Bessa-Luís "As Meninas" (2001, Três Sinais Editores), with illustrations by Paula Rego, the writer considers that "drawing becomes authoritative in Paula [Rego's] work, she feels grateful for drawing so well and applies her gift to the canvas, which will reach its peak in the Dancing Ostriches".

"They are monstrously beautiful. True beauty is monstrous. It leaves the line, stands in the open, jumps all barriers, has superhuman elasticity. And, suddenly, beauty appears, unlimited, pure and monstrous" , described Agustina Bessa-Luís (1922-2019).

Source: Lusa