What's on in Leinster

The exhibition ‘St Dymphna, The Tragedy of an Irish Princess’ at the National Gallery of Ireland centres on a triptych by the Dutch Renaissance painter Goossen van der Weyden (1455-1543), which depicts scenes from the life of the 7th-century Irish saint.
NGI: 28 January – 28 May

Artist Elaine Byrne’s visits to the Arctic, in particular the archipelago of Svalbard, have culminated in her exhibition, ‘Collective Work’, showing at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery. Byrne explores the theme of borders in the area using video, photography and sculpture.
Elaine Byrne: 2 – 25 February

‘John Noel Smith: Celebration’ is a survey exhibition at Hillsboro Fine Art marking the artist’s 70th birthday. With abstract works from the 1980s to the present, the show includes paintings from Smith’s career in Berlin, where he lived for twenty-two years, and latterly in Ireland.
John Noel Smith: 26 January – 16 March

The richness of the National Gallery of Ireland‘s pastel collection is highlighted in their exhibition ‘Pastel Revealed’, with works that explore the history of the medium and how it has changed over four centuries. Artists include Edmund Ashfield, Thomas Frye, Rosalba Carriera, Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Jean-François Millet, Edgar Degas, Maurice Marinot, Harry Kernoff and Brian Bourke.
NGI: 25 February – 5 June

IMMA presents a retrospective of the artist Patricia Hurl’s practice over the last forty years. Hurl’s work is political and traverses the disciplines of painting, multi-media and collaboration. Since the 1980s, she has created work that deals with loss, pain, frustration and loneliness.
Patricia Hurl: 10 February – 2 July

Painter Denise Hussey is exhibiting at the Easter Snow Gallery, Séamus Ennis Arts Centre. Her subject matter is diverse and ranges from Dublin’s Blackrock Baths to life during the pandemic lockdowns.
Denise Hussey: 1 February – 2 April

For her exhibition ‘Not Somewhere Else But Here’ at the Wexford Arts Centre, landscape painter Serena Caulfield is inspired by classical artworks, children’s drawing books, aural histories and local myths.
Serena Caulfield: 13 February – 23 March

Solomon Fine Art present work by Sligo-based artist Cléa van der Grijn, which is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland. Her exhibition includes painting and film and is concerned with the shifts in perception caused by trauma, loss and the unravelling of memory.
Cléa van der Grijn: 9 February – 4 March

Rachel Doolin’s immersive installation ‘Heirloom’ at the dlr Lexicon draws on her residency programme in the Arctic, and is informed by a subsequent partnership with the Irish Seed Savers Association. Doolin’s work ranges from the political to the poetic, and employs a series of visual, installation and digital-based works.
Rachel Doolin: 9 December – 5 March

The Butler Gallery celebrates its 80th anniversary with an exhibition of existing works and recent acquisitions. Featured artists include: Peter Bradley, Michael Beirne, Edward Delaney, Flor Garduño, Vera Klute, Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tony O’Malley, Gypsy Ray, Emma Roche and Blaise Smith. Commissioned responses by performance artist Suzanne Walsh will also be part of the celebrations.
Butler Gallery: 28 January – 26 March

Sibyl Montague’s ‘Worm’s Ditch (Claí na Péiste)’ at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios draws on the early Irish literature of the Black Pig’s Dyke (Claí na Muice Duibhe), an ancient earthwork that spans the northern midlands of Ireland. Montague explores pig farming across the country, as well as the cultural symbolism of the pig.
Sibyl Montague: 16 December – 18 February

‘2012 – 2022’ at the Olivier Cornet Gallery celebrates its tenth anniversary. Featuring a selection of works by gallery artists, the exhibition has been curated by Cornet along with Mary Rose Porter and Lisa Brero.
Olivier Cornet Gallery: 15 December – 15 February

The exhibition ‘Liked and Shared’ at Marsh’s Library brings together treasures from the library’s collection that found widespread popularity when shared on social media. These include a five-foot map of Venice, 18th-century avian watercolours and examples of Dublin-made bindings, as well as doodles and drawings.
Liked and Shared: until March 31

Over eighty paintings by JMW Turner go on display at the National Gallery of Ireland, drawn from the Tate Collection. Devised by Turner scholar David Blayney Brown, ‘The Sun is God’ explores the artist’s fascination with nature – in particular the sun, moon and clouds – and showcases Turner’s artistic innovations alongside his mastery of light, colour and atmosphere.
JMW Turner: The Sun is God: 8 October – 6 February

A new exhibition at the Chester Beatty focuses on the important collection of manuscripts known as the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. Dating from the 2nd to the 4th century AD, these ancient books reveal the material histories of writing and bookbinding, textual histories of translation and transmission, and later object histories of ownership, publication and display.
First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt: 28 October – 30 April

IMMA‘s ‘The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis’ presents work by the London-based artist collective founded by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. Featuring key works from 2011 to 2018, the exhibition reflects the artists’ interest in creating ‘a science fiction of the present’ through images, voices, sonic images, sounds and performance.
The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis: 7 July – 23 February 2023