A large chair used in paintings inspired by the book “Alice in Wonderland”, a “Pillow Man” doll and a “Doll in a black dress” are some of the never-before-seen pieces.
Some dolls and accessories, never seen publiclythat the painter Paula Rego used as models for her paintings, are part of a group exhibition at the house-museum of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in London.
A large chair used in paintings inspired by the book “Alice in Wonderland“, a doll of “pillow man“and a”Doll with black dress”are some of the pieces that were previously found in the artist’s work studio and that will be in this exhibition that opens on Wednesday.
The exhibition “Women and Freud: patients, pioneers, artists“has the intention They celebrate the women who were part of the life of the creator of psychoanalysissuch as family, friends, patients and colleagues, along with artists inspired by Freud’s ideas.
One mix of historical pieces, books, letters, diaries, photographs, sketchbooks and manuscriptsalong with works of art, they will be exhibited in the different rooms of the Freud family home, where Sigmund and his daughter, the child psychoanalyst Anna Freud, received their patients.
Virginia Woolf, who visited Freud at his home and who, with her husband Leonard, began publishing Freud’s works in English 100 years ago, Princess Marie Bonaparte, who helped Freud escape from Nazi-occupied Vienna, or some of his first patients, such as Anna O., Cäcilie M and Dora, are some of the people mentioned.
In addition to Paula Rego, works by Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas, Rachel Kneebone, Tracey Emin, Cornelia Parker, Alice Anderson, Christina Kimeze, Helen Chadwick, Alison Bechdel, Carolina Mazzolari, Sharon Kivland, Abigail will be presented. Schama and Emily Berry are shown.
Two engravings by the Portuguese artist will accompany the “dollys” of the exhibitionwhich will remain until May 5.
In a text published in 2018 in the British newspaper The Guardian, in the context of the “All Too Human” exhibition at the Tate Britain museum in London, Paula Rego revealed that for decades she worked mostly from live models or “dolls” that her made or that were made for her.
“Using dolls is a different experience than using a real model.. They are obedient, I can place them however I want and they stay that way, they are like actors on a stage. But they do not give life; I also need a person there, because intensity is important. If you draw a person, you get a lot back. Sometimes they give so much, they flood you with their personality, with their soul, that it is difficult for you to retain them,” explained Paula Rego.
“The pillow man” (“Pillow Man”), the name of a work by Martin McDonagh about the barbaric murder of several children, stars in several paintings by Paula Rego.
A triptych from 2004 with the name of this character is considered an important piece of her work and refers to the artist’s own childhood in Estoril during the Second World War and her relationship with her father in a way that refers to Freud’s psychoanalysis. .
Born in Lisbon in 1935, Paula Rego died on June 8, 2022, at the age of 87, in London, the city where she lived and where she moved at the age of 17 to study at the Slade School of Fine Art.
It was in the British capital where she met her future husband, the English artist Victor Willing, who also appears in many of her artistic works.
In her work, Paula Rego addressed political issues, such as the abuse of power, and social issues, such as abortion, among others in the female universe.
Source: Observadora
