Exhibition review 69562

Exhibition review 69562

Name of the show: mudam-se as histórias, mudam-se os estilos
Curated by: Catarina Alfaro
Artist on show: Paula Rego
Place of the exhibition: Casa das histórias paula rego
Opening time of the show: 13 june 2023 - 31 march 2024
The name of the show “Change of history, change of style” suggests the exhibition sets us on a journey through the years of Paula Rego’s paintings and the development of her iconic art style. A good artwork asks a good question, I would like to believe that's true for exhibitions as well. This exhibition makes you wonder, what it takes to build a recognizable art style.

As any vast exhibition that tries to contain the majority of the artist's career, it holds a chronological order. The exhibition includes more than 50 of Paula’s works from as early as 1992 and as late as 2017. You get to see some of the rare originals as you go through the halls of Casa Das Histórias, a museum in Cascais, that holds the name and many works of Paula Rego.

Through the exhibition, you can discover Paula’s active involvement in the political and cultural history of Portugal. The analysis and reinterpretation of narratives in illustrations of children's stories pushes you into doubting the visual portrayal previously illustrated by Disney, decontextualizing Peter Pan as a literal hell for children in illustrations full of horror and pain of early adulting through experiencing traumatic episodes. From bringing more attention to the legalization of abortions to the colonial history of the empire and untold stories of colonized people, Paula Rego presents the voice that must be heard. The pain and the struggles of womanhood in the format that once used to be inspired by comic strips found in newspapers raise contemporary problems of everyday women. The voice is so loud that it still resonates with people who get to experience her paintings. They first catch your attention by using vibrant colors and giant canvas sizes, but the deeper you delve into the paintings the more disturbing they get, and exactly in between visual elegance and emotional uneasiness there lies a space of appreciation for Paula Rego’s art.

The parkour of the exhibition, in my opinion, should have ended with the contents of room 0, which is situated right next to the entrance of the first room and is excluded from a continuous labyrinth of the rest of the rooms. I suppose because it stores the biggest and the most famous artworks curators might have predicted people wanting to have easier access to the most desirable works, yet I still think to see the change of styles it would have been better to see the works in a chronological order.

If you follow the order from the first room the the room 0, the last piece you will see is a documentary that consists of interviews with Paula. Getting to hear about her life as an artist, and how closely her personal life was intertwined with her practice serves as a great ending to this exhibition.

Ever so often inspired by things she saw in theatre, news, and novels of her time, Paula's incredibly productive work ethic cannot leave you unbothered by her true contemporaneous.