The Disney-Inspired Painting That Set Paula Rego's Auction Record

Paula Rego's, Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1995) sold for $3.74m (£3.06m) at Christie's in London on October 13, 2023.

The work is a diptych of pastel on paper mounted on aluminium.

Rego’s painted eight panels, two of which set her auction record, that were inspired by a ballet scene in Walt Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia. The diptych was formerly part of the Saatchi Collection.

Rego created the work when asked by the Hayward Gallery in London to contribute to an exhibition celebrating 100 years of cinema. The artist, whose father owned the first private cinema in Lisbon, recalled the thrill of watching films in it when a young child, in particular Disney productions.

Her regular model, Lila Nunes, posed as a dancer in a black tutu to create a work recalling the sequence in Fantasia and also Edgar Degas' pastel drawings of young dancers.

The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $1.94m, a 100% rise. Her previous record was set by The Cadet And His Sister (1988), which sold for $1.8m at Sotheby's on July 1, 2015.

A Brief History of Paula Rego at Auction