PORTO.- "Naked Girl with Egg" by Lucian Freud is on the centre stage of My Choice, an exhibition founded on the now known and tried concept of the artist-curator, with Paula Rego.

Mostly comprised of drawings and etchings, but also photography and painting, the 87 works mirror their creators’ identity. Always individualized, each work seems to have been observed and selected as a unique piece, her selection being unconcerned with the building of a body of related works. What unites each piece is Paula Rego’s way of seeing, which is almost always drawn to works with an intrinsic narrative that becomes manifest in extreme situations, of great tension and drama, and others that develop more universal themes, such as life, death, love and sex.

"I really only chose what I liked. I didn’t choose pictures because of the name of the artist, or because they were considered historically significant. Very often I didn’t know who had done them. Some I had seen before, but others not. I loved the freedom to like by looking", stated Paula Rego.

"The sadness in the the woman's expression" of " Naked Girl with Egg" was the reason why Paula Rego choose this painting, she explained in the opening of the exhibition, 14 th july, in Porto, Portugal.

The selection of this work has less to do with plastic expression or empathy with the extraordinary harshness of the painting than with the strong emotions it stirs.

MY Choice is being held on Espaço Fundação EDP, in Oporto, until 23 october, as well as "The Poacher", an original project, between Fundação EDP and Fundação Paula Rego/Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, with works by Paula Rego - paintings and drawings - produced in 1990, when the artist received the invitation to inaugurate the residency programme of contemporary artists at London’s National Gallery.