Paula Rego tribute: her pictures are heartfelt revelations

‘And how is your painting getting on?” people used to ask patronisingly over the canapés at one of her husband’s private views. They little imagined that one day this diminutive Portuguese woman with the dark flashing eyes, snaggleteeth and teasing smile of an imp would find herself fêted among our greatest contemporary artists. With the death today, at the age of 87, of Dame Paula Rego we have lost a defiantly individual talent. Had people bothered to look beyond the façade of the wife and mother, they would have discovered that it was there to be spotted right from the start.

Forget our fixation with the new-fangled. Every now and then an artist crops up who rises through the ranks by the sheer persistent power