Nick Willing

And that's how a lot of her most powerful paintings come about because

Although we think we're looking at Jane Eyre or Father Amaro, they have a certain kind of strong authenticity about them that comes from actually felt experience.

Mum would have told you she's not brave at all.

She would have told you if she was sat here where you're sitting, that she's a coward.

except in her work.

In her work, she could do anything, she would say.

But in life, she was not that way.

She was brought up, as you say, in Portugal during a fascist dictatorship of Salazar.

And she was born in 1935.

So that was

a few years after the start of the , which was the fascist name that Salazar gave the country.

And basically, women became second or even third class citizens.

Their place was in the home.

They were not encouraged to work.

They couldn't leave the country without the permission of their husband or father.

They couldn't travel without their permission.

They couldn't open bank accounts.

They couldn't buy homes.

They couldn't do a lot of the things that we take for granted nowadays.

Because they weren't encouraged to work, but encouraged to stay at home, look after the children, cook and look after their husbands.