First testimonies
Ireland only welcomed its first occupants around 6000 BC. We'll have to wait a little longer to find the first stone sculptures. North of Dublin, the petroglyphs at the Newgrange site have been dated to 3000 BC. The engravings encircling the burial mound are interpreted as the first recorded map of the moon.
During the Iron Age, the production of tools and weapons was strongly influenced by the arrival of the Celts. A people of goldsmiths and blacksmiths, they brought with them the famous Celtic designs: the spiral, the interlacing and the cross. These three motifs would inspire the entire history of Irish visual art. Because of its remote location, Ireland escaped colonization by Rome. As a result, Celtic culture endures through its motifs, oral tradition and mythology.
Christian Era
After the fall of the Roman Empire, as Europe became bogged down, the religious authorities chose Ireland as a base from which to spread Christianity. Around 450, St. Patrick was sent as a missionary. His success led to the Christianization of Ireland. The creation of centers of religious and secular scholarship in monasteries laid the foundations for the development of Irish visual art. These centers produced illuminated manuscripts of the highest quality. Christian calligraphy meets Celtic art in a magnificent way. On ornate panels, animals intertwine in Celtic patterns, amid spirals, faces and chased gold and silver. Monasteries played a crucial role in cultural life until the 13th century.
Irish Renaissance
Art declines from 1200 to 1700. In painting, the Renaissance began in 1650 and lasted until 1830.
In the 18th century, a century of prosperity, the first artistic institutions were founded: the Royal Dublin Society (1731) and the Royal Irish Academy (1785). A few talented painters emerged in the fields of portraiture and landscape.
The art of portraiture took off in Ireland at the turn of the 18th century. Although most portraitists were anonymous, a few names have come down to us: Garret Morphy, Thomas Bate and the master of the genre, Charles Jervas. The next generation is represented by James Barry, Martin Archer Shee and William Mulready. Many left for England in search of professional opportunities.
The first landscape painters to make their mark were Susanna Drury (1698-1770), John Butts (1728-1764) and George Barret Senior (circa 1730-1784). The Romantic Thomas Sautelle Roberts (c. 1749-1778) had a notable influence. Likewise, the Brocas family, Henry Brocas Senior (c. 1766-1838) and his sons exerted considerable influence through the school of landscape painting they directed.
Beginning of the modern era
Although the pictorial Renaissance continued into the 19th century, Irish artists immigrated en masse. Irish patrons of the arts were rare, but London's potential was all the more attractive: a developing market, creative and exhibition facilities. Sculptors Patrick MacDowell, John Foley and John Hughes all had successful careers in London. Some painters opted for France, Barbizon or Pont-Aven, where they learned to paint outdoors in the manner of the Impressionists.
Two events marked the beginning of the twentieth century: the creation of the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art in 1908 and the independence of the Irish state, which took shape in the early 1920s. However, pictorial innovation was not quite there. Commissions for traditional busts kept the leading sculptors busy. The 1940s were dominated by the conservatism of the Royal Hibernian Academy. The RHA deliberately blocked innovative European trends such as Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism. For four decades, the country's economic and political situation was not conducive to artistic dynamism. In the mid-1960s, however, the country began to open up to the international scene.
In the 1990s, an increase in the budget allocated to the arts completely reshaped the landscape. In 1990, the Hugh Lane Gallery was succeeded by the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Among the projects launched were two new galleries: the Naughton Gallery at Queens University of Belfast (opened in 2001) and the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at University College of Cork (2004).
Over the last two decades, Irish art has been gaining in importance on the contemporary art market. In 2014, Francis Bacon's triptych Three Studies by Lucian Freud became the most expensive work ever sold at auction at the time (€105 million).
Six other Irish painters broke the million-euro barrier. In 2016, Irish artist Kevin Abosch's photo of a potato on a black background sold for €1 million. It thus joins the ranks of the 20 most expensive photos in history. Kevin Abosch is also known for his portraits of celebrities on a black background.
Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
A figurative painter born in Dublin to English parents, he had no formal schooling because of his poor health and excessive shyness. Private tutors taught him drawing and painting at home. From the age of twenty, wealthy men took him under their wing. Bacon first came to prominence for his furniture and carpet designs, but he never turned his back on painting and his master, Picasso. In particular, he drew inspiration from the Spanish master's Les Baigneuses and Le Baiser. Surrealism also marked his early years. In 1933, he sold his first oil on canvas, La Crucifixion. The following year, he held his first solo exhibition at the Transition gallery. During this period, he destroyed many of his works and painted little until 1944, when he returned to his art in earnest. His compositions, with their sensual expressionism, became more tortured and violent. His figures suffer in captivating chaos, caught in swirls of sharp, carnal colors. Trois études sur les figures à la base d'une crucifixion was exhibited for the first time in 1945. This work prefigures the characteristics of the style that made Bacon famous. Distortions, open mouths, triptych composition. The following year, he painted the famous Painting featuring a meat carcass, a reminder of the young Bacon's fascination with butcher shops. His works met with success abroad. 1953 saw his first solo exhibition in New York. During this decade, Bacon produced 45 variations on Diego Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X . In the 1960s, the Bacon retrospective organized by the London Tate Gallery tours Europe. Bacon died of a heart attack in Madrid in 1992. The entire contents of his London studio were bequeathed to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. The Hugh Lane also brings together French Impressionists (Monet, Degas, Renoir, Corot, Manet, Millet, Puvis de Chavannes) and Irish Impressionists: Roderic O'Conor, Walter Osborne, Frank O'Meara and John Lavery.
Contemporary art in Dublin
The municipality is investing like never before in promoting today's artists. Where can you meet the current scene? First of all, stroll the streets. After that, we've selected a few places to guide you.
In Belfast, street art has become a tourist attraction since the end of the conflict and the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. West Belfast and the Bogside district of Derry/Londonderry attract thousands of visitors every year. Belfast's first public fresco appeared in 1908! On Beersbridge, the painting showed William III riding home victorious on his white horse. Needless to say, it didn't go unnoticed.
In Dublin, street art has been on the rise in recent years. The façades of the Camden Street district bear witness to this. The practice is becoming organized and formalized. The Evolve Urban Art association provides a link between the community and artists through street art projects. Among the projects they led were the fifteen frescoes executed in the area around the Guinness Museum. Artist Maser was already painting on Dublin walls in 1995, when the practice was still underground. His works proclaim his political commitments loud and clear. In a different spirit, a collective known as Subset has been rampaging through the streets in large-scale format. For a feminine touch, Anna Doran enlivens this predominantly male scene with her original motifs. Her colorful creations run along sidewalks and walls. And now, look out for works by Solus, Fitan Switzer, El Viz, Joe Caslin and James Earley!
On the closed circuit, the Irish Museum of Modern Art is the leading national institution for contemporary art. IMMA's collection includes modern and contemporary art by Irish and international artists. Recently, Canadian artist-photographer Stan Douglas presented his first solo exhibition in Ireland.
The venerable Royal Hibernian Academy has undergone profound changes since its foundation in 1823. It now promotes both traditional and innovative visual arts in its five galleries.
Fringe Lab brings together the performing arts, meeting places and exhibition spaces. Its primary mission is to support emerging artists. The crucible of tomorrow's stars! Another space dedicated to emerging creation, The Lab combines all artistic fields. Located in the historic Monto district, it organizes all kinds of events, including temporary exhibitions.
Perhaps the most iconic address in the Dublin milieu, The Green on Red Gallery exhibits established artists from here and abroad: Gerard Byrne, Damien Flood and Nigel Rolfe. The perfect place to feel the energy of the moment.
