Say Hello to Ireland

16/08/2025

Kilmacduagh in the Burren 🏛️🛖

28/06/2025

We’re proud to unveil a significant addition to the national collection, by Jack B. Yeats. It’s on display from today in our Irish rooms.

Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park, reflects a pivotal moment in Irish history. Although it doesn’t 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 profound and lasting consequences. On that day, during a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary, Auxiliaries opened fire on the crowd, killing 14 civilians and injuring more than 60 others. Among those killed was Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan.

Dark Rosaleen (‘Róisín Dubh’), the song that the men in the middle of the crowd are singing, was adapted by poet James Clarence Mangan from an Elizabethan poem by a bard of Red Hugh O’Donnell. Set to music in the 19th century, it was widely recognised as an allegory for Ireland. Ballads and ballad singing recur frequently in the work of Jack B. Yeats, who amassed a large collection of songbooks and sheet music over many years.

As one of Yeats’s few overtly political works, this painting stands as a deeply personal response to a seismic moment in Irish history. It’s a lament in the aftermath of the episode rather than a depiction of the violence itself.

The painting was purchased with special support from the Government of Ireland and a generous contribution from a private donor. We would like to thank the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport for their ongoing support.

Images: Jack B. Yeats (1871 – 1957), Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park (1921) © Estate of Jack B. Yeats, DACS London / IVARO Dublin 2025

24/06/2025

Experience the unique atmosphere of Puglia in Ireland with an Italian and Irish music festival! 28/09/ 2025- 7 pm

10/05/2025

Happy Europe Day 🇪🇺🇪🇺☘️☘️🌿🌿

9-10 May 1950 Schumann Declaration on Irish Monk St Colombanus principles 🕊️☘️

🇪🇺🇪🇺☘️☘️🕊️🕊️

02/05/2025

01/05/2025

Happy Summer Day Ireland ☀️☀️☘️☘️

The start of the Irish Summer around the garden of approved Failte Ireland Tour Guide, Giuseppe Giordano.

19/04/2025

Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ famously depicts the events of the evening of Holy Thursday, when Jesus is betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. In this short film, curator Dr Aoife Brady talks about what makes this painting so special and filled with drama: https://youtu.be/x2eXrmFPRHo

🔎If you’d like to know more about the painting (including how a surprising link the 1916 Rising played a part in it ultimately ending up on our walls!) you’ll find plenty to explore here: https://tinyurl.com/CaravaggioNationalGalleryIRL

🇮🇹 The Taking of Christ isn’t currently on display here at the Gallery, as it’s on loan to Barberini Corsini Gallerie Nazionali in Rome for their exhibition Caravaggio 2025.. Do let us know if you see it there!

🎬Film by Aileen Power.

Image: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), The Taking of Christ, 1602. On indefinite loan to the National Gallery of Ireland from the Jesuit Community, Leeson St., Dublin who acknowledge the kind generosity of the late Dr Marie Lea-Wilson, 1992.

11/04/2025

Irlanda del Nord e Brexit: cosa cambia? In viaggio dai villaggi storici come Enniskillen ai murales di Belfast e Londonderry, fino ai magnifici scenari della costa settentrionale con il ponte sospeso di Carrick-a-Rede

30/03/2025

Walking along the Grand Canal Greenway in Tullamore, Co. Offaly on a Spring Sunday afternoon ☘️☀️🛶 🪻

25/03/2025

Lough Boora Discovery Park in county Offaly is home to countless species of birds and wildlife.

20/03/2025

Explore the Boyne Valley 🏛️☘️🏞️ with its extraordinary landscapes, castles, abbeys and Celtic traditions.

12/03/2025

Offaly St Patrick’s Day parades have something for everyone this year, spread right across the major towns and village of the Faithful County.