This painting is a story within a story. It’s based on Jean Genet’s play The Maids (1947), which in turn was based on the real-life case of two sisters, Christine and Lea, who worked as maids for a rich Parisian family. One day, for no apparent reason, they brutally murdered the mother and daughter of the family. Paula Rego tries to convey the claustrophobic atmosphere by cluttering the space with random furniture. Bright red hightens the tension and adds the feeling of menacing psychosis. Isn’t there something uncertain about the sex of the seated figure? And how about the black boar?

Braids

Some see in this painting a reference to Velasquez’ Las Meninas… Whether you see it, or not, her imagery is loaded with symbolism and contemporary mythologies. All showed from a point of view of a woman.

Disney Princesses

Do you recognize this tale? It’s Snow White! Paula Rego dresses a middle-aged woman in the famous Disney costume to expose the fallible value we tend to assign to youth. She lays clutching her skirts, as if trying to cling to life and her femininity which are slipping away. Rego comments this way on how the society imposes on women imagined expectations of youth and beauty.

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