The collection consists of an extraordinary group of paintings, drawings and etchings produced by the artist on a variety of media and using a wide range of techniques. The collection covers a period of roughly 50 years in her prolific artistic career, and will be shown in the permanent exhibition on a rotational basis. Such a wide-ranging collection makes it possible to follow the changes in form, theme and technique - the different media and artistic languages that Paula Rego has experimented with - as well to understand her unique and highly personal artistic universe.

The collection also includes paintings by her late husband, the artist Victor Willing, some of the models used by Paula Rego, a large patchwork and some of her personal papers.


How the collection was put together

The collection has been put together thanks to the generous donation made by Paula Rego of all of her etchings, amounting to 257 in total, along with a set of 278 drawings, most of which have never been seen before.
Paula Rego has also loaned 52 of her paintings to the Casa das Histórias, most of which are works from the 1980s (e.g. the Operas series; Vivian Girls; In and Out of the Sea) but which also include some of her emblematic pieces from the 1960s (e.g. Always at Your Excellency's Service; When We Had a House in the Country; The Exile; Centaur), the 1990s (e.g. Angel; Love; The Company of Women) and even as late as 2008 (Human Cargo).

In addition to the aforementioned loan, there is also a collection of 206 drawings and preparatory sketches of figures and compositions for paintings produced in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g. studies for The Family, The Policeman's Daughter, The Maids, Departure and for series such as Crivelli's Garden, Abortion and Dog Women). There are also watercolour studies made for the paintings for the chapel of the Palácio de Belém, dating from 2002.

Victor Willing (1928-1988) is represented by 15 oil paintings from the late 1950s (Precarious Drag), the 1970s (Place) and the last pieces of his career, dating from the second half of ths 1980s (Failure and Ascot).