Hughie O’Donoghue: Original Sins is an installation of new works by the artist and one of several events at the National Gallery of Ireland marking the Decade of Centenaries.
Addressing memory, history and questions of identity, the series of six large paintings by O’Donoghue, one of the leading painters of his generation, features a number of historical figures. The characters – three Irish and three British – are Irish saint Deirbhile and Anglo-Saxon King Wuffa, Aoife McMurrough and William the Conqueror, and revolutionaries Michael Collins and Emily Davison. Hunger strikes, Normans, martyrs, intertwined lineages, women’s freedom, migrant incursions and more associations will come up as you dwell on the choice of characters in the paintings.
Hughie O’Donoghue: Original Sins is curated by Dr Brendan Rooney. The series will be on view in the Gallery’s Shaw Room – for which it was painted – under the gaze of Daniel Maclise’s monumental The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife, which inspired it.
This site-specific exhibition is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023. It will be open for viewings until 31 October, 2022. Admission is free. No booking is required.