ABSTRACT
In 1986, approximately around the time that Paula Rego began to work on her paintings based on the theme of the family, Pope John Paul II stated that 'as the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world'. This chapter considers family (and hence national) dynamics in the paintings of the second half of the 1980s. The Red Monkey's colour is perplexing with regard to a protagonist whose salient traits place him otherwise well within the mainstream of the social order he emblematises. The Dance presents the romantic but also cosy setting of what appears to be a village hop. Judging by the clothes of the protagonists, it is taking place on a summer night on a beach against a background of sea and cliffs. Auspices of a doomed national imperative, however, be it economic migration or empire-building, are once again paraphrased through a means of death much closer to home.
