National Gallery of Ireland

It has been a few years since I went to the National Gallery and I am so glad I returned. It is such a beautiful place to spend a few hours. We are very lucky to have free access to such amazing works of art!
There is a JB Yeats portrait room on exhibition at the minute which is an amazing thing to see.
I must also note that the café is gorgeous and worth visiting alone.

Got all my Christmas shopping done here in under an hour and without any rise in blood pressure. They even gift-​wrapped everything for me for free — wahoo!
Oh yeah, the world famous Yeats, Caravaggios and Burtons are nice too…
(Philistine)

Free. Nice. Very small and quite limited collection. Enjoyed reading about Hugh Lane’s contributions to make this a reality.

Small gallery with some interesting pieces. Spent less than an hour there, but it’s free admission.

I love coming to the National Gallery — its so relaxing. They have a great selection from Monet, Carravaggio to more modern homegrown artists like Louis Le Brocquay. They also have a temporary exhibition this summer dedicated to Sean Scully (most of his work on display appears to be on temporary loan from the Tate Modern in London).
Well worth a visit but take your time so you can appreciate it. Check their website /​twitter etc for tours or special events etc.

The gallery is undergoing extensive renovations right now (reopening in 2016), so its mostly the modern wing that is open to the public now — the Merrion Sq entrance is closed.
One of my favourite rainy day hideaways, poke around the Masters of the Collection semi-​permanent exhibition, or the most recent exhibition ‘Lines of Vision’, works from the collection chosen by Irish writers. Go gaze at the famous Caravaggio ‘The Taking of Christ’, or my personal favourites would be ‘Little Green Fields’ by Gerard Dillon, or their large collection of works by Jack B Yeats.
The cloakroom is free (while you’re in the gallery), and the security staff are accommodating and helpful. The NGI shop is well stocked, with an impressive selection of art books, from introductions to, up to the more specific, including a well curated range of Irish art and design books. Aside from the usual selection of postcards, there are some wonderful Irish made products, and a tempting collection of notepads, and coffee table books. Its a great place to buy a gift, its certainly more than just a gallery shop.
The café is a great space to sit down with a cup of tea and relax, but I’m not keen on the quality of the food served there (see my separate review).

I am so sorry to say this but the museum is very small and not so interesting.
It is free of charge and you can see this in the state of the pieces inside.
Compared to other museums I have visited in other european capitals is very bad.
Go there if you want to spend an hour inside during a rainy day, but don’t waste time to organize a trip of more hours.

Some people said it’s a small gallery, but this place is so lovely !!! and nice coffee and tea.

I am a regular visitor of the gallery and overall I like it a lot. The bookshop is great, especially for unusual children’s books.
The collection, while incredibly tiny, is great. My daughter enjoys looking at the paintings and spotting animals in them. The staff is always nice. I started loving this place even more when they opened a play area in the café, being litterally the only free indoor play area in the entire city… Until they decided it would be a play area/​storage room. So now I like it a little less.
The café has the most expensive croissants in the city… Go figure!

I know a possible scolding could be on hand for only giving a 3 star review for the National Gallery of Ireland but I have never found it lived up to the hype for these reason, which have been valid for every time I’ve been here:
The restaurant is closed, or just closing, for filming/​music event/​private function — no coffee so, boo!
It’s hard to get around — the signs point to areas that are always closed or dead ends — please tell me this happens to other people?!
It’s really loud and full of tours of school kids. I’m not narky, I have a kid, but I go to galleries to be swept away a la the Ferris Bueller art museum scene…
The shop is a tad pricey.
It has good point too obviously, like the building is so cool and the transition between the old and new is cool. It has some amazing art and sculptures, and it’s free. It doesn’t mean I won’t ever be back, but I will be ramping up my knowledge and entry of the other museums around the city I’ve been missing out on.
Good for art lover heads, lunchtime escape heads, and, I love how the walls look like they are floating heads.

I love museums. But this one isn’t impressive. There seems to be a lot of unused and/​or closed space.
There are tons of postcards in the gift shop but most of the artworks are not visible in the few rooms open. It’s mostly religious works I’m simply not interested in.
The café is awesome however.
Try the two modern art museums in Dublin for better artworks.

Lovely collection. Free too!

The National Gallery of Ireland has three (among many) very sweet gems in it:
1) The lost and found Caravaggio masterpiece, «The Taking of Christ». Enough said.
2) The Gallery Gift Shop and all its sweet treasures from postcards to books to notepads to wall hangings to stationery.
3) The Café where one can bathe in natural light while enjoying the delicious and wonderful-​smelling treats.
And, one more thing — it’s free.
Get your culture on!!!

Good place. Free! Nice café. Wifi. Good place to read or work (in the café). Kids art room. I like it!

Luckily enough I have a job that allows me to visit a lot of places in Dublin that I wouldn’t if I didn’t do my job… does that make sense?
One of those places is the National Gallery of Ireland. I do like my art, but wouldn’t know much about technique or value, etc if they all slapped me in the face.
However, this gallery is quite a friendly sort of place in that you can go and see masterpieces, such as the Caravaggio, which I love more and more every time I see it and obscure pieces that you’ve never heard of.
Today I went with one of my students and spent more time in the Irish section and learned a pile of information about Jack B Yeats because we bothered to listen to the audio guide as well as linger around when the tour guides were giving an art history speech about the different pieces.
Super friendly staff to help you with any questions. A great shop for after and I’m sure the café is lovely for quenching your thirst after talking a pile of s**** about the artist’s inner turmoil at the time…
Go visit. It’s free. Stay as long or as little as you will.

It’s like this, either you are an art lover or you are not and if you are not then the thought of going to the national gallery is probably not a huge turn on. But worry not, besides the huge collection of pictures there is some really nice sculpture, a café, a shop and for the younger artist, an area where they can create their own masterworks.
In short, a little of everything and enough to kill a few hours even for the most unenlightened of souls such as my good self.

This is a great art museum in the heart of Dublin city centre. The best part about this museum is that it is free, including a free audio guide available at the information desk.
The website says that they have about 15,000 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and objets d’art dating from the early thirteenth century through to the mid-​twentieth century. A large portion of the museum was under refurbishment when i visited in November, however there is still a good portion of the permanent collection on display and worth viewing if you are in the area.
The museum is divided into Irish masterpieces, European masterpieces, Landscapes and a few rotating collections. My favorite area is probably the European masterpieces, however the Irish section is also very good. The European section has a great variety of notable artists including Monet, Picasso, Goya, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and many others. I also really enjoy the 13^th-​17^th century art at the start of the European wing. The museum does a great job with providing the name of the work, the artist and a little background on the art. Most of the pieces are also available on their website with the information as well which is great if you get home and want more information on your favorites.
The museum has a great gift shop too that is definitely worth a browse and not your typical gift shop. Everyone I know who has stepped foot into the gift shop has been impressed with their excellent selection.

This is one of Dublins (Irelands) little gems.
A great place for a first date or Valentines Day Lunch.
You can’t help but fall in love here!
Im not an Aficionado of fine art but I do recognise and appreciate beauty when I see it.
This is an amazing painting… I love it.
One of many beauties in this Gallery.

When thinking about the great gallery cities of Europe, Dublin doesn’t often come to mind, and that is a shame. While this charming little gallery may not hold as many of the famous masterpieces as other places, London Paris and Vienna coming to mind, I never fail to find some little gem I had missed in a previous visit and because of the lack of crowds, you can stand, examine and love each painting, getting to really know its colors, subject matter and your own feelings about it.
Plus, in true Hiberno pride, the Irish painting are separated out from the rest of Europe, allowing visitors to really explore Irish paintings, an often neglected area of Art History and find beautiful, deft paintings about Irish life over the centuries.
And don’t get me started on the Yeats collection. It is really exquisitely handled and so easy to get lost in.
This is easily my favorite place to spend one of my rare free afternoons or weekend mornings.

A FINE GALLERY
Dublin’s national gallery is great. As all good galleries should be its free and it contains some wonderful paintings from all around the world.
I went in January which is a great time to go as 31 Turner water colours are displayed only in janary every year. These were left to the gallery by Henry Vaughan who as part of the behest specified they must be shown every year in January for free altogether.
When I actually went there was some work underway so I think I probably only saw about 2/​3rds of whats normally on display.
There are some great pieces here from pictures of the seventh seal of hell to local landmarks and famous portraits.
The building is very nice and like all good art gallerys much bigger than it needs to be, with airy halls and staircases.
There are also a number of statues which are placed around the place as you walk around.
The shop is extensive with lots of art books and prints and other bits and bobs.
So spend a few hours and see some history and gaze into the past. A great way to get some free entertainment and culture as well.

Der freie Eintritt in die Museen und Galerien des Landes ist eine der schönsten Annehmlichkeiten auf der Insel. Natürlich habe ich in erster Linie den Weg aufgrund von Caravaggios ‘Gefangennahme Christi’ auf mich genommen. Als begeisterter Anhänger des irischen Whiskeys kommt man auch an einem Besuch des Portraits von John Jameson nicht vorbei. Henry Raeburn hat ihn so eindrucksvoll auf Leinen verewigt, dass man von diesem Exponat nicht mehr Abschied nehmen möchte.
Und dennoch war es in diesem Fall die Architektur — die ähnlich wie das MoMA in New York — den Kunstwerken besondere Glanzlichter hinzufügt und mich im Besonderen faszinierte. Die moderne Eingangshalle und das Treppenhaus, dass die älteren Bauabschnitte perfekt zu einem harmonischen Ganzen zusammenfügt, beeindrucken und machen den Besuch zu einem ganz besonderen Erlebnis. Die Wände des Foyers sowie die eindrucksvolle Treppenanlage sind in Sichtbeton ausgeführt, womit das Raumspiel von Innen und Außen auch in das Material übersetzt ist. Das erinnert sehr stark an die Gebäudekonzepte in meiner fränkischen Heimat, dem Neuen Museum in Nürnberg und dem Georg-​Schäfer Museum in Schweinfurt. Anschauen!