The Casa das Histórias Paula Rego is an art museum in Cascais, Portugal.
The museum’s iconic building was designed by Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. Opened in 2009 in Cascais, a seaside municipality in the Lisbon District area, the museum was built primarily to showcase the work of Portuguese-born British artist and women’s rights activist Paula Rego (1935 – 2022).
Above: exterior view of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego in Cascais.
Photo Andy Maguire via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Souto de Moura’s building
The building designed by Souto de Moura Arquitectos consists of several red-colored concrete volumes, including two iconic 17-meter (58-foot) high pyramids that flank the main entrance on the southeast corner of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego and contain the museum’s cafe and shop.
The building sits in the middle of a beautiful park, framed by large Eucalyptus trees. A marble-paved path cuts diagonally across the site reaching the museum’s entrance from the south.
Inside, the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego houses a foyer, a temporary exhibition hall, and six galleries for the permanent exhibition, four of which are arranged around a central courtyard, together with administration offices dock, workshops, storerooms, and a 200-seat auditorium.
Contrasting with the intense earthy deep-red color of the exterior, the museum’s interiors are almost completely white, thus creating a neutral and intimate background for the intense works of Paula Rego.
Souto de Moura Arquitectos, Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Ground-floor plan and elevations, courtesy of Souto de Moura Arquitectos.
Exterior view of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego in Cascais; photo Paramita via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Collection, permanent exhibition, and program of activities
The collection of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego comprises works – paintings, drawings, pastels, and etchings – made by renowned Portuguese artist and women’s rights activist Paula Rego, as well as works by her husband, British painter Victor Willing (1928-1988). Born in Lisbon, Paula Rego moved to London when she was sixteen.
Rego’s works have evolved from being strongly influenced by Surrealism, and later by semi-abstract painting, to very personal works, mostly pastels, that since the early 1990s, combine disquieting figures and social themes with a masterful technique openly influenced by masters of South Europe like Diego Velasquez, such as in the famous Dog Women series.
A selection of works from the collection, which consists of about 600 pieces, is displayed in the museum’s permanent exhibition.
The program of activities and events of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego includes special exhibitions, guided tours, workshops, talks, and conferences.
Paula Rego, Sit (1994) and Sleeper (1994). Venice Art Biennale, 2022; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.
Paula Rego, Gluttony (2019), Venice Art Biennale, 2022; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit.