There are two buildings at the gallery’s disposal. One of them was clearly created by architects of the past centuries: white brick, niches, taken at first sight for windows, columns at the entrance, a sloping roof. The second picture house is also light, but the resemblance to its older brother ends there. This building looks much more modern – it looks like a huge brick cube, and only at the entrance there is a glass showcase with several floors.

Looking at these buildings, it’s hard to believe it all started with a collection of 125 paintings, but it is with this number of exhibits and opened its wooden doors gallery in 1864. Two years later, however, the institution received a grant, which was spent on the purchase of works of art. The sum was probably substantial, because already in 1891 the collection was already impressive and threatened to stop being housed in the building allocated to it. An outbuilding had to be built.

Patrons also sought to help the gallery in every way possible. Thus, in the early 20th century, about 250 watercolors by various local artists were donated to the institution. The only stipulation of the donors was that the paintings could be exhibited only in January. And this requirement was far from a silly whim, because the sun’s rays are destructive to watercolors. So even now, so many years later, with so much modern technology, these paintings are only exhibited in the first month of the year. Keep this in mind when planning a visit to the gallery.

The famous Bernard Shaw also contributed to the museum, bequeathing 14 works from his collection to the institution. The playwright knew a lot about painting, and among his gifts are paintings by Pablo Picasso and Jack Yates.

Now anyone can easily get into the gallery, as admission is free for locals and visitors to Dublin.

Beautiful works by masters of previous centuries leave no one indifferent. There are biblical scenes and paintings based on ancient myths. Myths and legends, pictures depicting the everyday life of people of different estates. And how nice landscapes, marine motifs, still lifes. Faces, places, objects look from the paintings of Caravaggio, Reni, Monet, Velazquez and many others, so don’t deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying the masterpieces of bygone eras.

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