Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns

British Portuguese Paula Rego (1935 2022) 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 Salazar's dictatorship, which imposed strong constraints, especially on women's 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 women's right to control their own bodies is under pressure, her images feel more relevant than ever. The exhibition Paula Rego Dance Among Thorns presents Rego's 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 exhibition's 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. SELLING POINTS: . Showcases Paula Rego's fiercely political, fantastical depictions of gender, the body and power across her long career . Situates Rego's work against Portuguese dictatorship and contemporary global threats to women's bodily autonomy . Offers the most comprehensive presentation of the exhibition at the MUNCH Museum, Oslo. Paula Rego . Dance Among Thorns, with all works reproduced. The exhibition runs from April to August, 2026 . Highlights Paula Rego's inspiration from Edvard Munch's art for the first time, revealing visual and thematic affinities between their works . Paints an intense, nuanced portrait of an artist who never stopped challenging aesthetic norms and political oppression 150 colour illustrations