To coincide with Secrets and Stories, a new BBC documentary about the life and work of Paula Rego, directed by her son Nick Willing, Marlborough Fine Art reveals a previously unseen series of eleven large pastel works on paper created by Rego between 2006-7.

Paula Rego, 2007, pastel on paper, 101.5 x 68.5 cm
Credit: Copyright Paula Rego, Courtesy Marlborough Fine Art

Notoriously private and guarded, Rego opens up for the first time in Secrets and Stories about untold experiences from her exceptional life. The works in Marlborough’s exhibition reflect a particular experience discussed during the film.

Airing on BBC Two on Saturday 25 March 2017, the film combines a huge archive of home movies and family photographs with interviews spanning 60 years. What emerges is a powerful personal portrait of an artist whose legacy will survive the years, graphically illustrated in pastel, charcoal and oil paint.

Rego (b. 1935, Lisbon) trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1952-56). In 1990, she was appointed artist-in-residence at the National Gallery, London. Her work has been exhibited in many of the major museums world-wide. In 2004 she was awarded the Grã Cruz da Ordem de Sant’Iago da Espada by the President of Portugal and a museum dedicated to Rego’s work, the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, was opened in Cascais, Portugal in 2009. In 2010, Rego was made a Dame of the British Empire. Her work is part of numerous public collections including the Arts Council, London, England; Berardo Collection, Lisbon; National Gallery, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate Gallery, Liverpool; and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. She lives and works in London.