Munch Museum Paula Rego Dance Among Thorns

British Portuguese Paula Rego (19352022) carved out her place in international art history with a self-possessed, uncompromising expression and a burning commitment to fighting oppression and lack of freedom. She grew up in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazars dictatorship, which imposed strong constraints, especially on womens freedom, and throughout her long career Rego dissected the relationship between gender, the body and power in a dark, fantastical visual language. At a time when authoritarian forces are on the rise across the world and womens right to control their own bodies is under pressure, her images feel more relevant than ever. The exhibition Paula Rego Dance Among Thorns presents Regos powerful and unsettling body of work in its full breadth. The catalogue includes all works on display and a collection of new texts by the exhibitions curator Kari J. Brandtzæg as well as by Catarina Alfaro, Isabel Freire and Jennifer Higgie. Together, they sketch an intense and nuanced portrait of an artist who never ceased to challenge whether aesthetically or politically. Autorid: Kari J. Brandtzæg, Jennifer Higgie, Catarina Alfaro, Isabel Freire, Heidi Bale Amundsen