Reaction to the Daniel O’Neill exhibition at the Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin has been highly positive. The first retrospective in 70 years by this highly regarded Belfast born artist, curated by art historian Karen Reihill who has written the first monograph dedicated to the artist, was to have coincided in 2020 with the centenary of his birth. It has gone ahead now following two years of postponements due to Covid. Most of the works in the show are from private collections and there are contributions too from IMMA, the University of Limerick and the Ulster Museum. O’Neill is an enduring and popular Irish artist (he died in 1974 aged 54) whose Girl with a Flower made a hammer price of €38,000 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin last week. Daniel O’Neill: Romanticism and Friendships, presented by the OPW at Farmleigh until June 6 features paintings by his friends and fellow artists Gerard Dillon, Colin Middleton and George Campbell and others.
