Paula Rego, born in Portugal, has been described as “heiress to Goya’s Iberian darkness.” She is a master of aquatint, exploiting the medium to its most eerie and provocative ends. In this visionary image, Straw Burning, a dazed bride wanders through a hellish sea of frightening forms—menacing goat, screaming sunflower, aquiline demon, overgrown grasshoppers, sinister mice. The gradations of aquatint tone in the background set this netherworld aflame. The print comes from Rego’s Pendle Witches series, accompanied by poems by the British poet Blake Morrison.
The series of paintings and prints on the theme of nursery rhymes that emerged from her work at the National Gallery is taken around Britain and elsewhere by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the British Council from 1991 to 1996.
1997
Retrospective at Tate Liverpool
A retrospective of her work is held at Tate Liverpool.
1998
Exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery
An exhibition of her work at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
