About National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin was founded in 1854 and houses Ireland's national collection of Western European and Irish art from the 14th century to the 20th century. Admission is entirely free. The permanent collection of approximately 16,500 works spans Italian Renaissance, Dutch and Flemish Golden Age, Spanish Baroque, French Impressionism, and an unparalleled survey of Irish art.
The gallery's most celebrated work is Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ (1602) — a painting that hung unrecognised in the dining room of the Jesuit House of Study in Dublin for centuries before being identified by an art historian in 1990. It is now one of the most visited works in the building. The Irish collection includes the world's largest holdings of Jack B. Yeats (brother of the poet W.B. Yeats), whose expressive late paintings are among the most important works in 20th-century Irish art. The gallery also holds a significant collection of drawings and prints, including works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rembrandt.
Collections & Highlights
Frequently Asked Questions
You Might Also Like
A small ask before you go
You've just explored one of humanity's greatest collections of beauty. Art has the power to move us, inspire us, and change how we see the world. But millions of people will never see beauty like this — not because the art isn't there, but because they can't see at all.
Preventable blindness, caused by conditions like cataracts and trachoma, affects people of all ages across the world's poorest communities. A small gift — for the cost of a museum ticket — can provide a simple surgery to restore someone's sight and transform their life.