Ireland is well known for the steady stream of creativity that it has produced over the years. Leading players in film, theatre, poetry and music were born and bred in the Emerald Isle. Not to mention, the thriving art scene in Ireland today, and in years gone by. So let’s take a look at some of our personal favourite artists.
Anna Doran
This muralist is a native to Dublin city and has sprinkled her artistic sparkle all around her hometown. Her most famous work is Love Lane and she was the commissioned artist who transformed Facebook’s Dublin HQ into the majestic mural maze it is today.
Conor O’Leary
A photographer and artist also reared in the capital city, O’Leary has made a splash in the global art world. He’s been featured in Wallpaper, The National Gallery of Ireland, Financial Times, The Telegraph Magazine, and The New York Times.
Paul Henry
A Belfast native, Henry’s work is a staple of many Irish homes. He created beautiful lush landscapes and was one of Ireland’s most successful and well known artists to date.
Jack Butler Yeats
Often falling in the shadow of his gifted brother William Butler Yeats, J. B. Yeats was an outstanding artist in his own right. He worked first as an illustrator and then switched to oil painting in 1906.
Joseph Malachy Kavanagh
Famous in the late 1800’s, the prolific painter’s work is hard to come by today because most of it was burnt in the fires of the 1916 Easter Rising. He specialised in painting landscapes, seascapes and rural scenes.
Walter Frederick Osborne
His short, glittering career had him best known for his depictions of the everyday lives of the working class people of Dublin – including women, children and elderly people.
Mainie Jellett
Dubliner Jellett was a pioneer for the Irish modern art movement. She was devoted to changing conservative attitudes to art in Ireland until her untimely passing due to cancer.
Louis De Broquy
This Irishman’s career lasted nearly 7 decades. He is famous for his ‘portrait heads’ of William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, and his friends Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon and Seamus Heaney.
Daniel O’Neill
This Belfast born painter began his art career after the Blitz of Belfast. He took to salvaging wood and experimenting with wood carving. He is most famous for his painting of West Belfast which includes St. Peter’s cathedral and Conway Mill.
Some of these artists you will already be familiar with. Some, you will not have heard of. All are from Ireland, and all are responsible for hand crafting the Irish art scene into the vibrant, free place that it is today.