Art Historical Breakthrough: Munch's Profound Impact on Rego Uncovered
A remarkable discovery in the archives of the late Portuguese artist Paula Rego has unveiled a previously unknown artistic lineage, revealing the profound formative influence of Norwegian master Edvard Munch on her celebrated career. The unearthing of an early painting and a personal letter from Rego's youth provides concrete evidence of this significant connection, reshaping our understanding of 20th-century figurative painting.
The Teenage Epiphany at the Tate Gallery
In 1951, a sixteen-year-old Paula Rego visited London's Tate Gallery where she encountered an exhibition of Edvard Munch's work that would fundamentally shape her artistic trajectory. In a newly discovered letter to her mother in Portugal, the young art student expressed overwhelming admiration for the Norwegian painter's emotionally charged works.
"What impressed me most was an exhibition there by a modern Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch," Rego wrote with palpable excitement. "I don't know if you are familiar with that quite famous painting The Scream – that's his – and he paints almost everything in that genre... But it's so impressive, so impressive that you can't imagine."
She particularly noted Munch's painting Inheritance, describing it as showing "a seated woman crying with a skeleton child, all painted green, in her lap." This visceral reaction to Munch's work would reverberate through Rego's artistic development for decades to come.
The Rediscovered Masterpiece: Drought
Approximately one year after her transformative Tate experience, Rego created a small but powerful painting titled Drought measuring 65cm by 22cm. The work, painted when Portuguese families were suffering through severe drought conditions, depicts an open-mouthed pregnant woman carrying a skeletal infant while turning her face toward the sun.
Art historian Kari J Brandtzæg of Norway's Munch Museum immediately recognized the connection when shown the painting by Rego's son, Nick Willing. "It was so obvious in the use of red and yellow and also how it was painted, very roughly, as Munch did in his 1890s paintings," Brandtzæg observed, noting the clear visual dialogue with Munch's The Scream and Anxiety.
The painting had been rediscovered by Rego herself in 2015 while tidying her family home in Portugal with her son. After being placed in storage in her London studio, it remained unseen until after her death in 2022, when Willing and the head of her estate uncovered it in October.
A Silent Visual Conversation Across Generations
Brandtzæg's research for the upcoming exhibition Dance Among Thorns – the first major museum exhibition in the Nordic region devoted to Rego – revealed deeper connections between the two artists. She identified striking similarities between Rego's The Dance (1988) and Munch's The Dance of Life (1925), as well as between Rego's Time – Past and Present (1990) and Munch's History (1914).
"There is a kind of dialogue with Munch's pictures," Brandtzæg explained. "It is almost as though Rego is having a silent conversation with Munch's visual world."
Despite extensive research, Brandtzæg initially found no concrete evidence of when and how Rego might have experienced Munch's work beyond general admiration. The breakthrough came with the discovery of Drought, which Brandtzæg described as giving her "butterflies in the stomach" and feeling "like working as a detective."
The Archival Discovery That Confirmed the Connection
Following the painting's discovery, Brandtzæg refined her research to focus on the 1950s, recognizing that Drought represented one of Rego's earliest works. With assistance from Nick Willing and Rego archivist Eloisa Rodriguez, they combed through the artist's personal papers and discovered the crucial 1951 letter describing her Tate Gallery experience.
"It was electrifying," Brandtzæg said of finding the letter. "It was like winning the lottery."
Further investigation uncovered a 2004 oral interview Rego gave to the British Library, in which she recalled attending "a big show" of Munch's work at Paris's Petit Palais in 1952 with her parents. This revealed that Rego had sought out Munch's work multiple times during her formative years, viewing nearly the same touring exhibition she had seen at the Tate just one year earlier.
Munch as Artistic Idol and Inspiration
In her interview, Rego described Munch's paintings as "amazing" and "very emotional," stating: "I loved the life in them and all these things that were going on seem to me what I was trying to do, really."
Brandtzæg believes Munch "became a kind of idol for Rego, who triggered her own feelings and gave her courage and inspiration." She elaborated: "Munch became a friend in art she could look at and get ideas from. Something deep within her resonates with Munch's work, something that she wants to express. Both for Rego and for Munch, art is a way of finding and being yourself."
The painting Drought will be featured as one of the central pieces in the Dance Among Thorns exhibition opening at Oslo's Munch Museum on April 24th, marking its first public display and cementing the newly understood artistic relationship between these two towering figures of modern figurative painting.
