Works on view in the gallery’s first presentation since announcing its representation of the artist focus on quintessential themes in Rego’s art. The Guardian, 2012, like Rego’s iconic Angel, 1998, depicts a woman of spiritual significance who presents a balance between power and vulnerability. Unlike other images of higher beings, often displaying aggression or domination, Rego’s Guardian is a figure of humility, very rooted in the real, who is nonetheless there to protect and save.

Born in 1935 in Lisbon, Portugal, Dame Paula Rego RA studied at The Slade School of Fine Art from 1952 to 1956. She lives and works in London. Next year, the largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Rego’s work to date will take place at Tate Britain (16 June–24 October 2021). Current major solo exhibitions include Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance, curated by Catherine Lampert, which travelled from MK Gallery, Milton Keynes to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh in 2019–2020 and opened at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin in September 2020 (18 September 2020–3 January 2021). Her work is in the collections of major museums including the British Museum, London, UK; National Gallery, London, UK; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; Tate Gallery, London, UK and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK. Paula Rego will have her first solo exhibition at Victoria Miro during the latter part of 2021.