Prologue: A Patriot for Me

In the Prologue, Lisboa identifies the key themes permeating the book: love and reversals of love; negative aspects and interests of patriarchy; and the ways in which Paula Rego connects the personal and the political. Discussed is Rego’s perspective; her destabilization of expectations and assumptions; and a set of tensions in her life and work – between external conformity and internal revolt, and between outward good manners and an inward drive towards iconoclasticism. Lisboa examines Rego's focus on history; the theme of domination; and Great Britain and Portugal's impact on the artist's work. Portugal’s key historical events are described, including the impact of Salazar, Sebastianismo, and the Salazarista blueprint for national life (partly modelled on Hitler’s Germany). The author explores Rego's work from the 1980s onwards, including the interpretation and the impact of disappointed political hopes; and textualism/contextualism. Lisboa is critical of several aspects of the art history establishment: its encouragement of the conventional; its traditional analytical methods, including the failure to ask new questions; and its intellectual relevance.