Irish painters

This summer, the National Gallery of Ireland presents the first museum show in over thirty years to focus on the painted and graphic work of renowned Irish artist Roderic O'Conor (1860–1940).

Ireland is known the world over for its steady stream of creativity, from music art. Here are the best and most famous Irish artists.

Achill Island has long provided a home, and inspiration, for writers, artists, poets and creative thinkers. Famously it was home to Paul Henry, Robert Henri, Graham Greene and Heinrich Boll among many others.

Mrs. Lavery Sketching (1910). John Lavery (Irish, 1856-1941). Oil on canvas. Dublin City Gallery. Painter Lady Hazel Lavery, nee Martyn (1886-1935), was to figure in more than 400 of her husband’s...

Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) was orphaned, yet through determination and ability rose to become one of Britain's foremost portrait artists. Despite his busy career, Lavery found time to paint numerous portraits of his favorite subject, Hazel (1886-1935), his second wife. Biographical information on the Laverys can be found via the links above. I'm likely to devote an entire post to Lavery some day, so won't say much more here other than that even though he is best known as a portrait painter…

Mrs. Osler, Cap d'Antibes, 1929. Lady Astor playing golf at North Berwick, 1921. The Green Sofa (Mary Auras), 1903. My Studio Door, Tangier, 1920. Lady in Red (Mrs. Owen Barton Jones), 1924. The Hall of Argyll House, Chelsea, London - with Syrie Maugham and Sibyl Colefax, 1930. Miss Rosemary Hope-Vere and Bacchus, 1929. Bacchus! Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, 1931. (Study for "Their Majesties' Court, Buckingham Palace", now lost.) Madame Leo d'Erlanger, 1931. (Study for "Their Majesties'…

William John Leech (Irish, 1881-1968), Aloes, 1920s

Roderic O'Conor - The Farm at Lezaven Finistere, 1894 at National Gallery of Ireland Dublin Ireland

Irish artists have been showcasing their talents for thousands of years. Here are five that will make you proud to be Irish.

Why do mirrors appear so often in Victorian paintings? “Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites” suggests an answer. Often, the artists ask us to see the image they are “reflecting on”—whether it be from a poem or from domestic life, like the father with his arms outstretched in Ford Madox Brown’s Take your Son, Sir! (1851–1857), left brutally unfinished when his small son died. And, of course, as we stand before the pictures, a real rather than painted mirror would reflect ourselves…