Hugh Lane Gallery

The Hugh Lane Gallery, which is funded by Dublin City Council houses one of Ireland's leading collections of modern and contemporary art. The original collection, which was donated by Sir Hugh Lane, has now grown to include almost 2,000 artworks, ranging from the Impressionist masterpieces of Manet, Monet, Renoir and Degas to works by leading national and international contemporary artists. The Gallery also has a temporary exhibitions programme and stages historical and retrospective exhibitions, particularly of Irish art.
The permanent collection
Established in 1908, the Gallery's permanent collection consists of an extensive range of national and international paintings, sculpture, works on paper and stained glass. The founding collection donated by Hugh Lane and others begins with the 19th century and includes examples of the Barbizon and Impressionist schools, most notably works by Corot, Millet, Puvis de Chavannes, Manet, Monet, Degas and Renoir, as well as their Irish counterparts Walter Osborne, Frank O'Meara and John Lavery. Lane also built up a collection of English Victorian art, including works by Burne-Jones, Millais and Albert Moore. Since then, the collection has continued to grow, with noteworthy acquisitions, through the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, of works by Bonnard, Rouault and Vlaminck. The collection also exhibits the developments that have taken place in Irish art from the early 20th century to the present day, including a number of works by Ireland's most famous 20th century artist, Jack B. Yeats.
The acquisition of contemporary work is ongoing, with the Gallery placing a particular focus on Irish art. Its most recent acquisition is the studio of Francis Bacon, together with his Unfinished Final Portrait.
The Francis Bacon Studio
For general interest visitors the Francis Bacon Studio is fascinating. The complex consists of the reconstructed studio of Francis Bacon, an exhibition gallery showing a number of works by Bacon, displays cases featuring a number of items from the studio, an audio visual room and touch screen terminals.
The Francis Bacon Studio Database is the first computerised archive of the entire contents of a world famous artist's studio. Every item in the studio has an entry in the database. The database contains entries on approximately 570 books and catalogues, 1,500 photographs, 100 slashed canvases, 1,300 leaves torn from books, 2,000 artist's materials and 70 drawings. Other categories include Bacon's correspondence, magazines, newspapers and vinyl records.