National Gallery, Dublin

Behind Leinster House, to the left, is Dublin's National Gallery, with the entrance in Merrion Square, to the southeast. Originally opened in 1864, the gallery has since been extended, most recently in 1968.

In addition to representative works by Irish painters the collection, displayed on the ground and upper floors, includes works by American, British, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Italian and Spanish artists.

National Gallery Map

Important Information:

Official site: www.nationalgallery.ie

Address: Merrion Square West, IRL-2 Dublin, Ireland

Opening hours: 9:30am-5:30pm; Sun: 2pm-5:30pm; Thu: 9:30am-8:30pm

Always closed on: Christmas - Christian (Dec 25), Day after Christmas, St Stephen's Day, Boxing Day (Dec 26), Christmas Eve - Christian (Dec 24), Good Friday - Christian

Entrance fee: FREE

Useful tips: The gallery possesses 31 watercolors by Turner which, under the terms of the donor's bequest, can be displayed only during the month of January to avoid over-exposure to light; they can however be seen by appointment during the rest of the year. Guided tours at 3 p.m. on Saturday, 2:20, 3:15 and 4 p.m. on Sunday. At the gallery can be obtained free tickets for guided tours of nearby government buildings (but not An Dail - Parliament) every Saturday between 10:30am and 3 p.m. Photography prohibited.

Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Guides: Guided tour included with admission.

Facilities: Gift shop, Restaurant or food service

Transit: Rail: DART to Pearse; Bus: 5, 7, 8, 44, 45, 47, 48

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Among them are:

Irish: George Barrett, James Barry, Francis Danby, Nathaniel Hone the Elder and Younger, Robert Hunter, James Latham, James Arthur O'Connor, Walter Osborne, Thomas Roberts, Patrick Tuohy, Jack Butler Yeats (W. B. Yeats's brother), John Butler Yeats (the poet's father).

American: J. S. Sargent, Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, J. M. Whistler.

British: John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth, Thomas Lawrence, Henry Raeburn, Joshua Reynolds, William Turner.

Dutch: Peter Claesz, Jan van Goyen, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Steen, Rembrandt van Rijn, Salomon and Jacob van Ruisdael, Emanuel de Witte.

Flemish: Gerard David, Anthony Van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Rubens, Jan Van Scorel, David Teniers the Younger.

French: Camille Corot, Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Claude Lorrain, Jean-Francois Millet, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley.

German: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Wolfgang Huber.

Italian: Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Titian, Paolo Veronese.

Spanish: Francisco de Goya, El Greco, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Francisco de Zurbarán.

The gallery has large numbers of portraits. The older portraits of prominent figures in Irish history, formerly hung in the front rooms, are now in Malahide Castle, 9mi/14km north of Dublin. The more recent ones, including portraits of Brendan Behan, Roger Casement, Eamon de Valera, James Joyce, Sean O'Casey, George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Oscar Wilde, Charles Stuart Parnell and W. B. Yeats, are in Room 14 (reached from Room 1A).

There are also a fine collection of miniatures (Room 29), a series of portrait miniatures on the upper ground floor and an important collection of water-colors, also on the upper ground floor (Room 32), which can be seen only by appointment.

Distributed throughout these rooms are sculptures from the 16th century to the present day, including works by Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol.

On the ground floor of the gallery are a book counter and a restaurant, and in the basement a library and lecture hall.