O Vinho

Paula Rego's O Vinho [Wine] is inspired by a short story by the Portuguese novelist João de Melo. In de Melo’s short story, wine is not a diversion but a re-engagement with life, an awakening that imparts a new freedom and a fresh intensity to the narrative voice. The lead character takes us on an exploration into the "unique and delicious secrets of wine," secrets that reveal and illuminate aspects of his humanity otherwise lost in the monotony of his daily existence as an office worker. The text is accompanied by a sequence of nine images reproducing lithographs by Paula Rego, each one a story in itself, and all indicative of the transforming effects of "the colour, the soul, the profound essence of wine." Rego is also the translator of de Melo’s short story – his first to appear in English.