[Note: I have included some of the highlights of the museum throughout the piece to hopefully convince you to give it a go]
When I decided that I’d be spending a semester abroad in Ireland at University College Dublin, I immediately began planning all of the things that I would do to take advantage of my time overseas. One thing I did not include, but in hindsight can't believe I didn't, was the National Gallery Ireland.
Falcon Hunt ('Algeria Remembered'). Eugène Fromentin, 1874.
Even though I was only going to be here for a measly sixteen weeks, I had tens of trips planned. I was going to travel all across Ireland. I was going to see Galway, I was going to see Cork, I was going to see Killarney national park, I was going to do everything I could imagine in Ireland. More than that, I was going to do everything I could outside of Ireland. I was going to see the Isle of Man, I was going to go to Italy, I was going to go to Germany, France, anywhere else.
But then a few things became clear.
I don’t have the funds to do everything under the sun, nor do I have the time.
And considering the current climate of international travel, particularly with the threats posed by COVID-19, or more widely known as the Coronavirus, it doesn’t make sense to take any unnecessary risks.
If you’ve found yourself in the same situation that I’ve found myself in, I’ve got some exciting news for you.
Dublin is a beautiful city filled to the brim with things to do and things to experience. The best news is that many of them are free. And amongst the almost overwhelming number of opportunities, I will claim that one rises above all the rest — The National Gallery of Ireland. The Gallery is a museum that “...aims to provide an outstanding experience that inspires an interest in and an appreciation of art for all. [They] are dedicated to bringing people and their art together.”
The Terrace, Saint-Tropez. Paul Signac, 1898
Speaking from personal experience, I can attest to the fact that they do just that. Growing up around New York City and going to university in St. Louis, Missouri, I’ve had access to some of the most wonderful art museums in the world, and I can promise you that the National Gallery of Ireland stands at the head of the pack
Regardless of your current relationship with art, I promise you that a trip to the National Gallery of Ireland will improve it, because that’s precisely what it did for me. And...once again... it’s absolutely free to gain entrance to the museum and to even book a tour.
In early February, I found myself with a Sunday with not much to do, and I decided it was time for me to finally take the opportunity and adventure out into Dublin. I grabbed a friend of mine, and off we went.
Song of the Mad Prince. Harry Clarke, 1917
To do that, I took the bus from University College Dublin to St. Stephen’s Green. Regardless of where you’re staying in Ireland while you’re visiting, getting to the museum will never be an issue. There are plenty of bus stops located all around St. Stephen’s Green, and if you need more help planning your route, Dublin Bus has a very convenient Route Planner. If you’re going to take the bus, from most places in and around Dublin, it will cost you three Euros, which you need to have in coins.
Once we arrived at the museum, we made sure to grab a gallery map so that we knew where we were going, and we made our way into the first room. One of the most subtle, yet surprisingly essential parts of the museum was how clearly each of the rooms were labeled.
For instance, the first room that my friend and I entered held art that was produced in Europe in 1850-1950. It was a small piece of information, but as I looked through the art, it gave me the experience of actually passively learning something.
Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat. Claude Monet, 1874
I didn’t feel as if I was just looking at art and admiring it, but rather, that I was beginning to learn and understand what explicitly defined the era. This was made more helpful by the extra information provided outside the room regarding the period.
Mostly, the inscription made it clear that the art I was about to look at came from a period where artists were free to explore the countrysides while they studied in art in the big cities because of the advent of transportation technology such as trains.
Having the opportunity to contextualize the art made a tremendous difference to me. It got me thinking about art in ways that I had never before. This was something that I hadn’t experienced at any other art museum. Not only did it increase the appreciation that I had for the art, at the end of the day, it also made it more entertaining.
Murlough Bay and Fair Head, Coast of Antrim. Bartholomew Colles Watkins, 1860.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about the National Gallery was the emphasis that it put not just on Irish art, but on Irish art history. There was a room dedicated to the Yeats family, a family that I had previously only known about because of William Butler Yeats, a poet that I had studied in High School. But in this room, I realized that his brother, Jack Butler Yeats, was a very famous Irish artist in his own right.
He even had his own room in the main Irish art hall. One of the most exciting things about his room was the level of information that was given about him. The little cards next to the paintings didn’t just have the name and the date of the piece of art, but it also gave backstory on who Jack Butler Yeats was.
Learning about Yeats life created an experience that again for me, someone that is not an avid art lover, was so much more than just browsing a selection of paintings. It felt as if I was given a glimpse behind the curtains of a fascinating life while also being able to see how the inner workings impacted the paintings.
It was an entirely new experience, one that I’d never had at any other art museum.
My friend and I ended up spending the entirety of the day wandering around the National Gallery. When I arrived to the musuem on the particularly rainy and windy day I had imagined that I'd enjoy myself, but mostly because I'd be dry. For the first few hours, I was just hoping that the weather would change.
But by the time that we left around three o'clock, as silly as it might sound, I was the one that had changed. It was still windy, and it was still rainy, but I had gained not just a deeper appreciation for Irish art history, but art in general.
So, I implore you, if you have a day to explore the city of Dublin, check out the National Gallery for an experience that you won’t be quick to forget.