Untitled 6, from the "Abortion" series

Label Text A champion of figurative art, Paula Rego produced a powerful body of work that mined contemporary social and political events as well as history, literature, film, fairytales, and her own experience. Women both historical and fictional are the main protagonists in nearly all of Rego’s work, which spans the media of painting, drawing, and printmaking. Enmeshed in complex systems of power, Rego’s female protagonists are both the agents and the victims of political forces they seek to control but to which they sometimes succumb.The eight etchings that comprised Untitled (1999-2000) are sometimes referred to as the Abortion series because of their subject, which is almost entirely absent from the history of art. The etchings were created out of a sense of rage and injustice, shortly after a referendum that would have legalized abortion in Portugal failed to pass. Each etching depicts a woman either preparing to have an abortion or in the midst of having an abortion, the illegality of which forces them to end their pregnancies isolated and alone. The artist’s protagonists suffer emotionally and physically with an already difficult procedure made all the more so in the absence of proper medical care. At the same time, the women in Rego’s etchings demonstrate resilience and fortitude. They show dignity in undignified situations. The style of the etchings exacerbates the disquieting subject matter, as do the variations in dark and light and Rego’s kinetic etched lines. By pushing the women’s bodies close to the picture plane and tightly cropping the compositions, Rego literally forces the issue of dangerous, illegal abortions. The resulting works are powerful, in some cases graphic, but not necessarily gratuitous. As the artist said in 2002, "The series was born from my indignation... It is unbelievable that women who have an abortion should be considered criminals.”
Exhibition History"Paula Rego: The Personal and The Political", Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, May 16 – September 7, 2025
"Paula Rego: Power Games, Kunstmuseum", Basel, Switzerland, September 28, 2024 – February 2, 2025
"Paula Rego: Fragmente eiuner Sprache des Köpers", Jahn und Jahn, Munich, September 10 – October 15, 2022
"Paula Rego", Tate Britain, July 7 – 24 October 2021
"Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance", National Galleries of Scotland, November 23, 2019 – March 17, 2020
"Paula Rego", Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 1999

Published ReferencesT.G. Rosenthal, "Paula Rego: The Complete Graphic Work", Thames & Hudson, 2003
Catherine Lampert, et. al. "Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance", Art/Books, 2019
Elena Crippa, ed. "Paula Rego", Tate Publishing, 2021
Tim Geissler, Paula Rego: Fragmente eiuner Sprache des Köpers, Jahn und Jahn, 2022
Eva Reifert, ed. "Paula Rego: Power Games", Kunstmuseum, Basel/Hirmer, 2024

Publisher

Marlborough Graphics

DimensionsSheet: 15 x 18 11/16 in. (38.1 x 47.5 cm)
Image: 8 x 11 5/8 in. (20.3 x 29.5 cm)

Accession Number 2025.128.6

Classificationsprint

SignedPaula Rego (l,r graphite)

InscriptionsIII/XIV A/P (l,l graphite)

Catalogue raisonnéThames and Hudson, ref: 165

EditionEdition of 17 plus 14 artist proof copies

Portfolio/Series"Abortion" series

MarksCP (l,r Culford Press blindstamp)

Paper/SupportSomerset paper