The Depression series, 2007, is a suite of large-scale pastels born out of an especially debilitating depressive episode and Rego’s attempts to draw her way out of it. In reference to the series, Nick Willing says, ‘She hid these pictures for ten years because she was ashamed. She was ashamed of suffering from depression.’ Rego discusses the works publicly for the first time in Willing’s 2017 film Paula Rego: Secrets & Stories. The film aired in cinemas in Portugal for many weeks and the works were subsequently shown at House of Stories, the museum in Cascais dedicated exclusively to Rego’s work. Discussing the effect of the film and exhibition in Portugal, Willing says, ‘What happened was that every TV panel show and morning show would talk about depression. The Portuguese never talked about depression, it was a big taboo, but one of the things that Paula did, which is what she’s always done, is she broke the ice and allowed them to talk about it. She forced people to confront it and talk about it and open up.’

In the accompanying publication, Deborah Levy writes, ‘To encounter the 2007 series titled Depression, is to understand that the full spectrum of female emotional life has been embodied for us by a uniquely fearless artist.’

About the artist

Born in 1935 in Lisbon, Portugal, Dame Paula Rego RA lives and works in London. The largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Rego’s work to date commenced this year at Tate Britain (7 July–24 October 2021) and will travel to Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands (27 November 2021–20 March 2022) followed by Museo Picasso Malagá, Spain.

Other current and recent major solo exhibitions include Museum De Reede, Antwerp, Belgium (30 July–25 October 2021), and 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 was on view at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin from September 2020–May 2021. Rego’s work is in the collections of major museums including the British Museum, London, UK; National Gallery, London, UK; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; Tate, UK and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK.