Untitled [Christmas gift], 2007Paula Rego

This work ‘Untitled [Christmas gift]’ is a charming postscript to a major series ‘O Vihno’, a portfolio of nine lithographs published in 2007 and accompanied by a story by João de Melo. In the Christmas period following the completion of the lithographs, Rego produced as a gift for her friends a small hand-coloured etching in an edition of fifteen copies, not for sale. ‘Untitled [Christmas gift]’ depicts de Melo’s protagonist drunken and sprawled across his divan bed. The woman on his left is removing his jacket while the one on his right is grasping a full, large glass of red wine which she is trying to insert into the fairly useless, unmoving right hand. It is an enchanting small work and a perfect coda to the main series.