MUNCH in Oslo presents "Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns," the first comprehensive museum survey of the Portuguese-British artist in the Nordic region and her largest since the 2021 Tate Britain retrospective. The exhibition brings together over 140 works spanning seven decades, from early abstract political collages to the grotesque papier-mâché tableaux of her final years. A central section traces previously undocumented links between Rego and Edvard Munch, including the discovery of a never-before-exhibited work by Rego's son, Nick Willing. Highlights include Rego's monumental "Oratorio" (2008-09) and "The Dance" (1988), which curator Kari J. Brandtzæg connects to Munch's "Dance of Life" (1898-1899).
The show matters because it deepens understanding of Rego's practice by revealing her long engagement with Munch, a connection that has not been explored in prior exhibitions. It also brings Rego's unflinching depictions of childbirth, child abuse, and trauma—themes that have grown more urgent since her 2022 death—to a new audience in Scandinavia. The inclusion of Nick Willing's early work "Drought" (1953) adds a biographical dimension, while the exhibition's run through August 2026 gives ample time for scholars and the public to reassess Rego's legacy in dialogue with one of modernism's most iconic figures.