Two works by Paula Rego from the Derek Williams Trust collection: Visitation and Death of the Virgin (both 2002) have gone on display in the exhibition Dance Among Thorns at Munchmuseet, Oslo. The show, which runs until 2 August 2026 and spans Rego’s career is the first large-scale exhibition of her work to be shown in the Nordic region.

Rego was one of Europe’s most important figurative artists, foregrounding feminism and the rights of women in her large-scale pastels. Rooted in story, myth and fairytale, her work used powerful, often surreal imagery to explore subjects such as war, oppression, sexuality and power through the experience of women.

The two works from the Trust collection on display at Munchmuseet were part of a commission for the chapel of the Palácio de Belém in Lisbon, Portugal, the city where Rego was born. Rego made twelve works for the series. Another work from the series is also displayed at Munchmuseet alongside Visitation and Death of the Virgin.

Rego’s Virgin Mary series depicts a subject familiar in Western Christian art: the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. However, Rego’s relationship with faith is inseparable from her experience in Portugal under a fascist regime which used religion to co-opt the female body and curb the rights of women. These images, which show contemporary figures in anonymous spaces, are earthly and ambiguous. Rego challenges us to view Mary, an icon of Christianity, through the lived experience of women everywhere.

Images © the artist’s estate / Bridgeman Images.