Picasso: From the Studio which opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on October 9 invites visitors to explore the relationship between maker and place in the context of one of the world’s most well-known artists. Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. This exhibition highlights the various facets and phases of his art and life, exploring the key locations that defined him. From his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his final studio Notre-Dame-de-Vie (1961-1973) in Mougins, visitors will see paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works.
Spanning more than 50 years of work, it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see so many works by one of the most influential artists of the 20th century in Ireland. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Musée national Picasso-Paris and proudly supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport and KMPG Ireland, exhibition partner. It runs until next February 22.
Portraits of renowned Irish actors Ruth Negga and Stephen Rea have been unveiled at the National Gallery of Ireland. The works are by Dublin painter David Booth (Ruth, 2025, oil on board) and Wicklow-based photographer David Stephenson (Stephen Rea (b.1946 Belfast), actor, 2025, photograph on archival paper). Both artists were winners of the Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland: Booth in 2022 for his work Salvatore, a portrait of his friend and fellow artist Salvatore of Lucan; and Stephenson in 2023 for his photograph Ann and Ollie, Main Street, Wexford.
Actor and producer Ruth Negga was born in Addis Ababa, raised in Limerick, and studied at Trinity College Dublin and the British American Drama Academy. She is known for her critically acclaimed performances on stage and screen, among them roles in the movies Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Loving (2021) and Passing (2021). She has appeared in many television productions, and received several nominations and awards. In 2025 she received her second Emmy nomination, for her role in the television series Presumed Innocent. In 2017, she received an Oscar nomination in the Actress in a Lead Role category for her performance in Loving, directed by Jeff Nichols.
Actor Stephen Rea was born in Belfast. He attended Belfast High School and Queen’s University before enrolling at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin. His international breakthrough came with his portrayal of Fergus in The Crying Game (1992), directed by Neil Jordan, for which he received an Oscar nomination. Other movie credits include Interview with a Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), and The End of the Affair (1999). He has been involved in several notable television productions. Rea has also enjoyed a celebrated career on stage, collaborating on several occasions with American playwright Sam Shepard. Rea has received many nominations and awards for his performances on stage and screen, and has been conferred with honorary degrees from both Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Ulster.
Jack B. Yeats (1871 – 1957) – Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park (1921). Purchased, 2024, with special support from the Government of Ireland and a generous contribution from a private donor
The National Gallery of Ireland has acquired Jack B. Yeats’s iconic painting Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park (1921). It was purchased in 2024, with special support from the Government of Ireland and a generous contribution from a private donor and is now on display. As one of Yeats’s few overtly political works, this painting stands as a deeply personal response from a keenly sensitive individual to a seismic moment in Irish history. It is unclear if the scene represents a specific moment Yeats observed, an amalgamation of separate sketches, or a product of his imagination. Though the work does not explicitly reference the violent events at Croke Park on 21 November 1920, known as Bloody Sunday, its title, setting, and sombre tone evoke the tragedy and its consequences.
On that day, during a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary, Auxiliaries (a paramilitary unit of the Royal Irish Constabulary) opened fire on spectators, killing 14 civilians, including Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan, and injuring 60 others. Sketchbooks in the Gallery’s Yeats archive contain multiple depictions of hurling matches at Croke Park indicate Yeats’s familiarity with the setting. When first exhibited in 1921 The Freeman’s Journal remarked on the “surge of patriotic emotion that the most dismal surroundings cannot repress.” It is a lament in the aftermath of the episode rather than a depiction of the violence itself.
The painting was stolen in the Dunsany Castle art robbery in 1990, subsequently recovered and returned to the Plunkett family in 1995. The same year the late art collector Sheila Plunkett, Lady Dunsany, sold ‘Singing the Dark Rosaleen – Croke Park’ at Sothebys for £500,000, when it was bought by Ben Dunne. The Mary and Ben Dunne Collection was sold by Gormley’s in 2022.
Western Procession by Mainie Jellett. Photo, National Gallery of Ireland
Pioneering Irish Modernists are celebrated in a major exhibition which opens on April 10 at the National Gallery of Ireland. Mainie Jellett & Evie Hone – The Art of Friendship brings together 90 works. It explores their experiences in the 1920’s where they studied with the French Cubists André Lhote and Albert Gleizes in Paris and the south of France. traces their careers back to Ireland and highlights the early convergences and later divergences in their styles. The paintings, stained glass and preparatory drawings reveal how both women were trailblazers in Irish art while remaining connected to conventional themes like religion and landscape. Hone (1894-1955) was an early pioneer of Cubism before turning to stained glass, Decoration by Jellett (1897–1944) was one of the first abstract paintings shown in Ireland when it was exhibited at the Society of Dublin Paintings group show in 1923. The first joint exhibition of their work since 1924 runs until August 10.
Ludovico Mazzolino: The Crossing of the Red Sea (c.1480–1528)
Ludovico Mazzolino’s Renaissance masterpiece, The Crossing of the Red Sea, (1521) was unveiled at the National Gallery of Ireland today following an extensive research and conservation project. An exhibition supported by the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund will run from February 15 to July 6.
Mazzolino, renowned for his small devotional paintings, primarily worked for the d’Este rulers of Renaissance Ferrara. Over time, he gained the confidence to undertake more ambitious and complex compositions. The Crossing of the Red Sea is one of only three surviving large-scale works by the artist, alongside The Massacre of the Innocents (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) and The Dispute in the Temple (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). Recognised as a rare masterpiece, it serves as a crucial link between these key paintings from his mature career. Acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland in 1914, this remarkable work has remained out of public view for many years due to its fragile condition.
The restored painting is housed in a purpose-built microclimate frame and is presented alongside The Holy Family, (c.1500) by Lorenzo di Ottavio Costa (c.1460-1535), one of Mazzolino’s first teachers, offering insight into the artistic traditions that shaped his work, and the evolution of his distinctive style and technique. Also included is a smaller work by Mazzolino, The Tribute Money (c. 1527) from Christ Church, University of Oxford.
THE annual Turner watercolour exhibition is now underway and with major exhibitions focussed on Picasso, Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone it is going to be an exciting year at the National Gallery of Ireland. We will have to wait until October for Picasso: From the Studio, a monographic exhibition in collaboration with the Musée Picasso national-Paris.
Picasso lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. This exhibition places Picasso in the context of his studios, highlighting the various facets and phases of his art and life. It will explore the key locations that defined him, from his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his studio in Villa La Californie (1955-1961) in Cannes. Featuring paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works the exhibition will run from October 11 to February 22, 2026.
Mainie Jellett & Evie Hone – The Art of Friendship from April 10 to August 10 will bring together 90 works from these pioneering Irish modernist women artists. The exhibition will highlight the early convergences and later divergences in their styles as they developed distinct artistic voices. Featuring paintings, stained glass, and preparatory drawings, it reveals how both women were trailblazers in Irish art although remaining connected to conventional themes such as religion and landscape.
Ludovico Mazzolino – The Crossing of the Red Sea Photo, National Gallery of Ireland
Among many more events at the Gallery is the display of Ludovico Mazzolino’s masterpiece The Crossing of the Red Sea (1521). On display from February 15 to July 6 it celebrates the conservation and re-display of a rarely seen work. Supported by a grant from the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund, the painting has undergone extensive scientific analysis and conservation, revealing its remarkable detail and historical significance. Mazzolino, who worked extensively for the D’Este rulers of Renaissance Ferrara, is best known for his small- scale paintings.
Meantime the annual Turner extravaganza at the National Gallery comes with a new twist in 2025 with an exciting exchange with the National Galleries of Scotland. Both institutions benefitted from the bequest of the wealthy English collector Henry Vaughan. The 38 Vaughan Bequest Turner watercolours which he bequeathed to Scotland are now on display in Dublin. Ireland’s Turner collection are being showcased this month at the Royal Scottish Academy Building in Edinburgh.
JMW Turner – The Piazetta National Galleries of Scotland. Henry Vaughan Bequest 1900
Visitors have an opportunity to see and appreciate a new selection of these masterful watercolours in the annual January show of 2025.The works on loan range from his detailed topographical views of the 1790s to the vibrant and expressive watercolours of Venice and the Alps that highlight his innovative techniques. The exchange, very much in the spirit of Vaughan’s bequest, comes after many years of discussion and planning by the two institutions.
Bequeathed in 1900 the Turner watercolours have been displayed every year since 1901 with the notable exception of the pandemic year of 2021. It was a stipulation of the bequest that the delicate watercolours be displayed only in January, when the natural light is at its lowest. Turner’s Watercolours: Scotland’s Vaughan Bequest runs until January 31 and is supported by Grant Thornton.
JMW Turner – Sea View National Galleries of Scotland. Henry Vaughan Bequest 1900
The annual Turner exhibition held at the National Gallery of Ireland in January is different in 2025. This year – the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth – is being marked by an exchange with the National Galleries of Scotland. In an exhibition which opens today 38 Vaughan Bequest Turner watercolours from the Scottish collection will be displayed in the Print Gallery in Dublin, while the National Gallery of Ireland’s Turner collection will be showcased at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. The show runs until January 31.
These watercolours highlight his mastery of light, colour and atmosphere, and his ability to draw attention to the human experience within the natural world. In 1900, the National Gallery of Ireland and the National Galleries of Scotland received watercolours and drawings by J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) through the bequest of collector Henry Vaughan (1809–1899). Vaughan’s will divided his Turner collection between the national galleries in Dublin, Edinburgh, and London, with the stipulation that they be exhibited every January, free of charge. Since 1901, the National Gallery of Ireland and National Galleries of Scotland have proudly upheld this tradition.
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) – Femme et jeune garcon nus
A retrospective of Picasso will be among the highlights of next year’s programme at the National Gallery of Ireland. The gallery, in collaboration with the Musée Picasso national-Paris, will present Picasso: From the studio from October 11, 2025 to February 22, 2026. Picasso lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. This exhibition places Picasso in the context of his studios, highlighting the various facets and phases of his art and life. It will explore the key locations that defined him, from his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his studio in Villa La Californie (1955-1961) in Cannes. It will feature paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works. Pictured here is a 1969 work on paper entitled Femme et jeune garcon nus which comes up at Christie’s 20th century evening sale in New York on November 19 with an estimate of $1 million – $1.5 million.
Mildred Anne Butler, 1858 – 1941 – A Sheltered Corner – Courtesy of National Museums NI, Ulster Museum Collection.
Mildred Anne Butler: At Home in Nature opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on September 14 and will run until next January 5. This new display of the art of one of Ireland’s first professional women artists is part of the Gallery’s broader effort to celebrate the contributions of Irish women artists. It showcases 16 watercolours, drawn from public and private collections across the island of Ireland, along with a selection of archival material, on loan from Trinity College Dublin, which provide further insights into her life as a working artist. Mildred Anne Butler was born and raised at Kilmurry, a grand mid-18th-century manor house near Thomastown, County Kilkenny. The 350-acre estate provided her with an endless source of inspiration, and a wealth of exquisite colour to paint. Her work captures the essence of her immediate environs with both striking accuracy and a sense of fresh immediacy. She is best known for her sumptuous garden scenes, as well as her detailed depictions of animals and birds, which she cleverly imbued with subtleties of character.
