This text provides a chronological survey of Paula Rego's life and pictorial concerns, drawing heavily on her own assessments of works as revealed in recent interviews. It explores her subversion of familiar sources to produce an enigmatic, dreamlike art influenced by surrealism.[...]

Surrealism was one of the most interesting and influential art movements of the twentieth century. A collective adventure begun by a small group of intellectuals in Paris in the early 1920s, amongst them Max Ernst, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali, its influence was felt through the rest of continena[...]