
Theme: The Paintings of Paula Rego
Paula Rego is a Portuguese painter, now aged 87 and still working! A few members of the group had noticed how bold and strong the figures are in her work. She uses vibrant, powerful colours.
Scribe: Kushi Director: Aisha
In The Dance, painted in 1988, we see a group of 8 people dancing on a beach by moonlight. There is a girl by herself on the left, three females (who could be grandmother, mother and little daughter) towards the back, and two couples, man and woman, towards the front. The moon is very important as it lights up the scene and also the bright-coloured clothes they are wearing.
Rego loved painting clothes: the fabric with its folds and textures, patterns and colours. She also loved contrasts and showed the figures brightly against a dark background. She is fascinated by people, and especially loves ‘telling stories’ in her work. We can imagine what might be going on. She remembered being told fairy stories as a child, and in some of her work she uses her family and friends as her models for the characters.
In Joseph’s Dream we wondered if Joseph is dreaming that he is being painted, or if the artist in the picture is painting him as he dreams!
She is an artist and a storyteller.
The paintings we saw were:
The Dance
Joseph’s Dream
The Policeman’s Daughter
Portrait of Germaine Greer
Paula Rego is a Portuguese painter, now aged 87 and still working! A few members of the group had noticed how bold and strong the figures are in her work. She uses vibrant, powerful colours.
Scribe: Kushi Director: Aisha
In The Dance, painted in 1988, we see a group of 8 people dancing on a beach by moonlight. There is a girl by herself on the left, three females (who could be grandmother, mother and little daughter) towards the back, and two couples, man and woman, towards the front. The moon is very important as it lights up the scene and also the bright-coloured clothes they are wearing.
Rego loved painting clothes: the fabric with its folds and textures, patterns and colours. She also loved contrasts and showed the figures brightly against a dark background. She is fascinated by people, and especially loves ‘telling stories’ in her work. We can imagine what might be going on. She remembered being told fairy stories as a child, and in some of her work she uses her family and friends as her models for the characters.
In Joseph’s Dream we wondered if Joseph is dreaming that he is being painted, or if the artist in the picture is painting him as he dreams!
She is an artist and a storyteller.
The paintings we saw were:
The Dance
Joseph’s Dream
The Policeman’s Daughter
Portrait of Germaine Greer