Paula Rego's "Meadow" auctioned by 2.45 million
However, the ‘masterpiece’ didn't set record for the artist.
“Meadow”, painted by Paula Rego in 1996, was sold on Tuesday at a Sotheby’s auction in London for 2.07 million pounds (2.45 million euros).
Purchased in 2002 for a private Italian collection, it was now sold without breaking the value record for the Portuguese-British artist who died in 2022, as was expected.
In 2023, by Paula Rego’s “Dancing Ostriches from the film 'Fantasia' by Walt Disney”, was auctioned in London for 3.5 million euros, which set the record for a work by the Portuguese artist.
Measuring 170 by 149 centimeters, “Meadow” is “an unequivocal masterpiece, one of Paula Rego’s most virtuoso, dramatic and pioneering works in the 1990s”, can be read on the auctioneer's page.
As Sotheby's recalled, “Meadow” was classified as the "most impressive image" in an exhibition of 23 large-scale works presented in 1996 at the Marlborough gallery, in New York, among which were paintings in which Rego departed from works by Disney as “Fantasia” or “Snow White”.
Rego’s challenging work about abortion, gender roles and domestic violence has found new audiences in an era when identity is king. Since her death in 2022 the record price for one of her works at auction has risen significantly, jumping from £1.1m in 2015 to a new record of just over £3m at Christie’s in October last year.
Background
Born in 1935 in Portugal, Rego moved to London in the 1950s to attend the Slade School of Fine Art, where she became part of the London Group alongside David Hockney and Frank Auerbach.
Her early work was often overtly political and addressed the Portuguese dictator Salazar and his regime, while later work delved into fairytales, gender and, famously, abortion. The Abortion Series in 1988, which depicted the dangers of criminalising abortion, were made in response to a botched legislative referendum in Portugal and are regarded as a key turning point in altering opinions on the subject in the country.
Rego’s complex work returned to the themes of trauma and oppression, but she was also inspired by Walt Disney films and was an avid supporter of Benfica football club.
As one gallerist said after her death: “She’s always been on it and we’ve been behind.” But being at the vanguard of artistic expression did not mean Rego was popular with collectors.
Her themes of trauma, abortion and violence created challenging, explicit work that some collectors found “more suited to a museum setting than above the dining room table”, according to one writer.