A treatment for fear

During the 1980s Rego created paintings inspired by her early life in Portugal. While the scene here could represent a memory of folk festivals or 'festas', it also has a more profound symbolic meaning. The dance can be read as a dance of life, representing the stages from a girl's childhood to old age. The rhythmic movement of the figures contrasts with the stillness of the setting, suggesting the balance between perpetual change and the essential continuity of existence. Rego's painting has an eerie, dream-like quality typical of her work, which often refers to childhood fears and fantasy.

Veloso Salgado (1864-1945) "Amor and Psyche" (1891) Located in the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal

José Malhoa (Portuguese, 1855–1933) Portrait of Laura Sauvinet, 1888 José Malhoa Museum

By Portuguese School Beatriz de Lencastre, Duquesa de Bragança (1542-1623)

José Malhoa - Senhora entre os Vidros (1926)

José Malhoa (Portuguese, 1855–1933) - Woman with Cat

Lilith's Covenant,from"The God,The Beast and The Woman",Emanuel de Sousa

[Source: Christie's]

Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (Portuguese, 1887–1918) - A Woman

[Source: invaluable.com]

Ninfas do Mondego by my great-great-grandfather José Simões de Almeida, circa 1910s, Portugal.

Spring, 1891