Paula Rego | Malerin der Figuration

A book titled Paula Rego: The Personal and the Political, shown standing at an angle on a white background. The cover features a bold graphic design with large, blocky text in red and light purple, set on alternating horizontal stripes of the opposite color. The publisher Hatje Cantz and Museum Folkwang are listed at the bottom.

A photo of the hardcover book Paula Rego: The Personal and the Political. The book is angled on a white surface, showing its bright red cover and pink spine. The title is printed in a large, bold, blocky pink font. The publisher Hatje Cantz and Museum Folkwang are also credited.

A photograph of an open art book with a red spine, laid flat on a white surface. The book shows two colorful, stylized illustrations by Paula Rego. On the left, page 78, a woman sits near a large tree, with three disembodied heads among flowers below. On the right, page 79, a figure walks through a dark, abstract landscape with green and blue hills in the distance.

The back cover of a book with a bold, abstract design of interlocking T-shapes in red and light purple. A block of German text about the artist Paula Rego is in the upper left corner. The bottom left corner shows the ISBN, a barcode, and the publisher's website.

An open book with a lavender-pink back cover and vibrant red pages, set against a white background. The right-hand page is the title page, which reads PAULA REGO, THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL in a bold, black font. The publisher Hatje Cantz and Museum Folkwang are listed at the bottom.

A close-up photograph of an open art book. The left page displays a full-color photo of an artist's studio, showing a large sculpture of a woman in a red chair holding a doll, with a metal cart of colorful pastels in the foreground. The right page features columns of black text on a white background with a wide, bright magenta inner margin and the page number 231 at the bottom.

A photograph of an open art book. The left page is solid red with black text and the page number 14. On the right is an expressive self-portrait in pastel; a woman tilts her head back with her mouth wide open in a scream of anguish.

A two-page spread from an art book, pages 110 and 111, featuring two paintings from 1986. On the left, a painting shows a young girl with braided hair holding a smiling yellow dog on her lap. On the right, a painting shows a person in a patterned shirt and checkered skirt shaving a dark dog's neck with a straight razor, as a cartoonish bird flies overhead against a vibrant red background.

An expressionist painting, The Birthday Party, 1951, depicting a lively and chaotic gathering of people around a long table with a yellow and white checkered cloth. The stylized figures are drinking, toasting, and gesturing with animated expressions. One man lies on the table with his arm in the air, while another stands with his arms raised in celebration. The overall mood is boisterous, captured with a warm, earthy color palette.

A full shot of Paula Rego's artwork, Oratório, a large wooden cabinet that resembles an altarpiece, standing against a white wall. The cabinet's doors are open, revealing painted panels depicting unsettling scenes of human figures in distress. The lower central section contains a diorama with several sculpted, doll-like figures in dramatic and disturbing poses.

A table of contents with a bold graphic design. White text is set within staggered red blocks on a black background. The left column lists chapter titles in German, many referencing the artist Paula Rego. The right column lists chapter titles in English, all starting with The Personal is, such as The Personal is Restrained and The Personal is Political, each followed by a page number.

A two-page spread from an art book, numbered 104 and 105. The left page shows a grid of six expressive black ink drawings on aged paper, depicting a figure in a sequence of contorted, animal-like poses. The right page features a single larger drawing of a figure squatting in a corner, with their back to the viewer and bare buttocks exposed.

An open art book spread across pages 52 and 53, displaying two abstract paintings by Paula Rego. On the left, Order Has Been Established, 1961, shows several cartoonish figures and objects in yellow, orange, and black against a blue background. On the right, Trophy, 1960, is a chaotic composition of rounded shapes in warm reds, oranges, and browns against a background of colorful washes.

An expressionist painting depicting three unsettling figures against a grey background. On the left, a hunched, orange creature with black stripes and a skeletal face vomits a pool of dark red liquid. In the center, a red humanoid figure with a striped face holds a large pair of scissors. On the right is a partial view of a large white figure with thick black outlines and a spiral eye.

An expressive painting of a woman with dark hair lying on a rumpled, deep red surface. She is seen from above, wearing a dark patterned dress, and holds her hands clasped to her chest while looking directly at the viewer with an intense, wide-eyed expression.

A book spread showing two black and white drawings by Paula Rego from 1970. On the left, page 70, is The Chief, a surreal scene with distorted, cartoonish figures. On the right, page 71, is The Candidate, an interior scene with a man in bed, another man standing, two babies crawling on the floor, and a large black bird.

A two-page spread from a publication with a bold red background. On the left page, the German text Immer noch, immer wieder is written in a large, black sans-serif font. The right page contains an article and a small black-and-white photo of an older woman holding a protest sign that reads, I can't believe I still have to protest this fucking shit.

A full view of the abstract painting Iberian Dawn, 1962. The mixed-media artwork features a chaotic composition of painted shapes in muted blue, brown, and ochre, with various collaged paper cutouts of fragmented, surreal figures. A horizontal strip of paper with dense, frantic handwriting is pasted along the top edge.

Paula Rego

The Personal and The Political - Deutsche Ausgabe

€ 44.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

By (artist): Paula Rego

Edited by: Museum Folkwang, Essen

July 2025, 240 Pages

Boardbook

165mm x 235mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-6096-6

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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Powerful work by the Portuguese artist

Throughout her career, Paula Rego has relentlessly exposed social grievances through her art. The Portuguese-born artist, who made London her adopted home, is therefore one of the most important painters of our time. Her paintings are more topical than ever. They are dedicated to highly emotional themes such as political and sexualized violence, physical self-determination and mental health, always with a focus on women's rights. With more than 120 works from seven decades, the Museum Folkwang explores the tension between the supposedly private and the political in Rego's oeuvre, starting with Rego's paintings from the 1950s, which criticize the dictatorship in her home country at the time, through to her famous Abortion series, the artist's personal contribution to the discourse on the legalization of abortion. The exhibition and accompanying volume aim to show that the questions posed by Paula Rego have not lost their urgency. The resistance of her art is elevated to a design principle. The Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego (1935 Lisbon-2022 London) is one of the most important figurative painters of recent decades.

Paula Rego. The Personal and the Political Museum Folkwang, Essen

May 16-September 7, 2025