La Fête is from a group of pictures that dredge up uncomfortable memories of life just after World War II in the Portuguese seaside town of Estoril, where Rego lived as a young adolescent with her parents and where German refugees sought a new life. (Portugal had remained neutral during the war but had sympathised with the Axis powers.) The accordionist, seated with legs akimbo and with her head tilted at a slightly odd angle, is accompanied by two rather creepy creatures who emphasise the already rather menacing character of the scene under gathering storm clouds.

—Marco Livingstone, 2021