Rego's lifelong advocacy for women's rights and anti-authoritarianism resonates throughout her striking, large-scale paintings

Born in Portugal but based in London for most of her life, Paula Rego (1935–2022) relentlessly exposed social grievances through her art. Her large, confrontational oil and pastel paintings—almost always of female subjects—draw upon the horrors found in both storybook narratives and women's lived experiences. They are dedicated to highly emotional themes such as political and sexualized violence, physical self-determination and mental health. Featuring more than 120 works spanning seven decades, The Personal and the Political explores the dichotomy of public and private in Rego's oeuvre: beginning with her early 1950s paintings criticizing the Estado Novo and including her famous Abortion series, her personal contribution criticizing the anti-abortion movement.