The National Gallery of Ireland will host a wide rage of family-friendly activities throughout the Gallery space on Culture Night, Friday, 22nd of September. Guests can visit our newly acquired ‘La Vie des Champs’ by Paul Cézanne. explore the building and engage with a specially curated interactive programme from 5:00pm. 

Visitors will have the opportunity to find out about all of the Gallery’s new Paul Cézanne acquisition, La Vie des Champs. A dedicated tour guide will be available to discuss the painting, where it is on display in the Millennium Wing. 

The French connection will be further celebrated with the facade of the National Gallery of Ireland lit up on Culture Night with Painting Mirror, an interactive digital display of portraits and landscapes submitted by the public. This developing digital arts project was created by Maxime Touroute, French digital artist and engineer and Tom Veniat, PhD/ Researcher in Artificial Intelligence. The Gallery has partnered once again with the French Embassy in Ireland and are issuing a callout for landscape and cityscape photographs to be included on the night. 

From anywhere in Ireland, France and beyond, children and adults can participate by sending a photograph of a landscape or cityscape, along with their name, email address, name of the place and county to [email protected] from the 16th of August. Submission deadline is the 18th of September at 12pm. 

In addition, this year we are encouraged image submission of your visit to the Gallery as an extra feature to our digital display. Within copyright, if your image feature you and your favourite highlight of the Gallery we would love to feature your experience and bring it to life from the inside out! Visitors on Culture Night will also have the option to snap their portrait in a photo booth. 

A selection of shortlisted, original, unedited photographs will be projected onto the walls of the National Gallery of Ireland’s Merrion Square façade, followed by a display of the same photographs, mirrored in the style of much loved artists such as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Mainie Jellett and Harry Clarke, to name a few.

Inspired by Irish, French and European works from the Gallery’s collection and accompanied by DJ sets, Painting Mirror will run from 8pm to 11pm outdoor in the Merrion Square forecourt. It will also be broadcasted live on Facebook, so participants can watch their pictures displayed as they appear on the live projection. 

An exciting programme of events will happen throughout the evening in conjunction with Painting Mirror.  This will include free themed tours of the national collection from 5pm onwards focusing on family favourites, Irish and European Art, LGBTQIA+ Art, music and costumes + Art, and a sketching tour. Frederic William Burton’s ever-popular painting Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864) will also be on view for visitors to enjoy. 

The Gallery Café and Gallery Shop will be open until 8.30pm, and the pop-up café will open until 10.00pm serving snacks. 

Exhibitions on display at the National Gallery of Ireland for Culture Night include:

It took a Century: Women artists and the RHA – This National Gallery of Ireland/Royal Hibernian Academy collaboration showcases women’s membership of the Royal Hibernian Academy from the election in 1923 of the first woman member, Sarah Purser, to the first woman President, Abigail O’Brien, in 2018. 

Shelter – Shelter presents new artworks created by the five members of the Shell/Ter Artist Collective (S/TAC). Diana Copperwhite, Allyson Keehan, Niamh McGuinne, Sharon Murphy and Geraldine O’Neill work in a variety of formats: painting, sculpture, expanded print and photography. Their work is complemented by a selection of objects from the Gallery’s collection. 

James Coleman: Still Life 2013 – 2016 – James Coleman’s video installation Still Life, 2013-2016 (yellow version), presents a silent, large-scale projection of an uprooted poppy against a black background.