National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Ireland's National Gallery first opened in 1864 to display Irish and European paintings. Admission is free, and though the collection is not that big, there are some interesting pieces that truly make it worth stopping by. Perhaps the gallery's most famous painting is Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ", which was lost for about 200 years until it was discovered in a Jesuit house on Leeson Street in 1993 (it had been mistaken for a copy of the original!). There are also some nice specimens from the Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch (including Vermeer's "Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid"), Flemish and British schools of paintings, and of course a large collection of Irish paintings. When I was at the gallery, there was a special exhibition dedicated to the works of Irish painter Thomas Roberts, which mainly featured beautiful landscapes from rural Ireland. But the highlight of the gallery for me was the Yeats Museum, a small room entirely dedicated to the works of John, Jack and William Butler Yeats. Of the three, Jack was definitely the best painter. I don't believe I'd ever had the chance before to see some of his work, and I found that many of the pieces, especially the one entitled "For the Road", were quite stunning.

The National Gallery of Ireland is open from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm (Monday to Saturday, with late nights on Thursdays), and from noon to 5:30 pm on Sundays.

This museum is located in the quiet Merrion square. The entrance is free so there is no excuse for no visiting it. You’ll see great paintings by Veermer, Velazquez, Rubens, Rembradt and much more. You’ll see also Irish painters.

monday to saturday: 9.30-17.30, Thusday: 9.30-20.30 and Sunday 12-17.30

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The National Gallery of Ireland is housed in the very central location known as Government buildings. Handilly, this includes the Irish Parliament, the Department of the Taoiseach (which you can visit on certain days), the National Museum, the Natural history museum (one of the finest examples of a victorian cabinet museum you are likely to come across!), National Library and last but by no means least the National Gallery.

The Gallery is housed mainly in a mid-19th century building, although it does now have a new millenium wing. The collection is eclectic, with eclesiastical art, old masters, a Caravaggio of which the Gallery is rightly proud, many impresionists and a fine collection of British and Irish artists. How it should be rated I cannot say but I have always found it worth my while to spend some time there! I particularly like the newish Yeats room, which gathers the impressive achievments of the Yeats family together, though obviously focusing more on the works of Jack Yeats, perhaps the finest Irish painter of his generation and brother to nobel prizewinning poet W B Yeats. Their father was also a fine painter and other members of the family were active in the arts and crafts movement of the early 20th century. The Gallery also has the largest archive of Yeats material anywhere, though this is available to researchers only. The Gallery has a fine print collection and a print gallery which often has on travelling exhibitions. The new millenium wing, tends to house temporary exhibitions, an extensive shop and a restaurant and coffee shop.

I wanted to visit this museum anyway but I was more than glad to see it when I was caught in an unexpected downpour!

There are two entrances - the Clare St one leads to the new Millenium Wing, featuring the most recent works (and probably my favourite part of the gallery!) or there is the original Georgian entrance on Merrion Sq West which I used. The gallery contains many works of western European art from as far back as the middle ages, right to the present day.

The lower level of the Milltown Wing concentrates on Irish artists such as Jack B Yeats.

The National Gallery of Ireland opened in 1864 although built in 1854. It holds 2,500 paintings and 10,000 other works including drawings and sculptures. It also holds an impressive collection of Irish paintings most of which are on permanent display. You will also find a Yeats Museum. The Gallery has two restaurants and a gift shop.
Admission is free.

Opening: Mon to Sat 9.30 to 5.30 Thursday 9.30 to 8.30pm and Sun 12noon to 5.30pm. There are guided tours of the collection on Saturdays at 3pm and on Sundays at 2pm.

Being the pintura freak I am, seeing a Caravaggio recently found in a local Jesuit Monastery is pretty cool. But do not miss the paintings from the local Irish. They have a separate room and you can feel the Irish soul in many of the works.

David wanted to pop by the gift store here after his swim in the famous Liffey River race to get a copy of "The Liffey Swim" by Irish artist Jack B. Yeats, we had a bit of time to kill before dinner so we decided to have a look around the museum as there is free admission to all but special exhibits. While it doesn't rival art museums in larger cities such as Paris or New York, the National Gallery does have a nice collection of Irish paintings which isn't something that you always see at major art museums. The Yeats wing had the original of "The Liffey Swim" plus many other paintings by Jack B. Yeats, the younger brother of writer W.B. Yeats. While not on my list of must sees in Dublin, it was a nice diversion for the hour we had to spare and a good place to get out of the rain for a bit.

There was some construction going on to the galleries so I'm not entirely sure we saw all of the galleries. If you enjoy Italian Renaissance art, you might find that you want to spend more time here than me as that's not really my favorite period, not a lot from the impressionist period but there are are a few paintings including a Monet, a Sisley and a Pisarro.

Dublin's National Gallery is quite a good place to see art in a rainy day... It doesn't have many glorious artworks, but it has big names - both irish and international. In the irish section, don't miss the paintings by the Jack and John Butler Yeats... the poet's brother and father.

Some international names worth admiring are: Rodin, Turner, Van Dyck, Rubens, Monet, Goya, El Greco, Bellini, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Titian and Caravaggio. Don't miss Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ" - the lost painting known only through replicas, until a few years ago. it was found by chance in a Jesuit house of studies in Leeson Street.