November 27 – January 17, 2026
Paula Rego: Drawing from Life
Cristea Roberts Gallery
In Person Viewing:
43 Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5JG
Online Viewing:
https://cristearoberts.com/exhibitions/278-paula-rego-drawing-from-life/
Cristea Roberts Gallery is pleased to present a major exhibition featuring a body of work by Paula Rego centred around an intensely personal period of three years that the artist spent in her studio.
During this time Paula Rego (1935 -2022) focused on her drawing practice, as she explored darker and more complex themes than ever before. Over forty works, made from 2005 to 2007, will be exhibited including several which will be shown for the first time. Rego’s studio will be partly recreated, showcasing the dolls and creatures she made and used as subject matter.
A major catalyst for this period was the connection she found in the work of writer and director Martin McDonagh (b. 1970), whose short stories Rego used as an inspiration to create a series of prints. The playwright’s stories became a channel for Rego to feed her own personal history. Just as Rego several decades before, distorted and updated the classic tales of Peter Pan, Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty, the dark, sometimes grotesque, violent, and often tender stories by McDonagh, alongside other tales, saw her embrace narratives that she layered with memories from her childhood in Portugal and later adult life. For the first time she began to make objects, dolls and creatures, described as ‘bonecos’ by Rego, to draw from.
The recreated studio will be brought to life by these dolls and creatures seen alongside the artist’s easel; this exhibition is the final time Rego’s studio will be relocated and displayed.
“It is true that all her prints were informed by her experience, but the lithographs she made in this three-year period drew far more from her life than the earlier work. Paula would often start with an external influence, a book or play that had fascinated her, sparking the urge to draw, but as she did so she would ‘discover things she never imagined were like that’.” Nick Willing
For all artwork enquiries please contact [email protected]. Paula Rego: Drawing from Life is a collaboration between The Estate of Paula Rego and Cristea Roberts Gallery. The exhibition will be closed during the holiday period from 21 December 2025 – 5 January 2026.
Content warning: This exhibition explores themes of abuse, abortion, alcoholism, and violence.
