Art may feed the soul but we all know the stomach needs to be satisfied too – happily, a trip to a gallery these days can meet both requirements with ease. To make life easier, we’ve put together our picks of what to see in your local art gallery just now, and where you can grab a good coffee or a bite in arty surroundings afterwards.
The Hugh Lane Gallery, on Parnell Square in Dublin 1, is exhibiting Bacon’s Portraits of Women, which explores Francis Bacon’s paintings of his friends Henrietta Moraes, Muriel Belcher and Isabel Rawsthorne, until July 30th. After that, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain’s The Dream Pool Intervals will be on display until September 28th. Boghanna Báistí Beaga, an interactive display for young children created by Helen Barry and children from Holy Child Preschool on Sean MacDermott Street, opened on June 26th. The gallery’s constant collection will also be on show, exhibiting work by Claude Monet, Pierre Bonard, Mary Swanzy, Harry Clarke and more.
The on-site Grá cafe has plenty of options to replenish you after a day of perusing the exhibitions, with offerings such as toasties, seasonal specials and sweet treats.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) is located within the beautiful, 17th century Royal Hospital Kilmainham building in Dublin 8. Imma’s permanent collection, showcasing more than 100 artists from the 1960s to the present, is on show in Gallery One until 2028. Gallery Two will meanwhile exhibit works from more than 40 Irish and Ireland-based artists until September 21st. A solo exhibition, Sewing Fields, by abstract artist Sam Gilliam, is showcased in the House Galleries until January 25th. In Gallery Three, Kith and Kin is displayed until October 27th, featuring the textile work of African American women from a small Alabama community.
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Imma’s on-site Fruition cafe, located in the basement, has an array of options such as soups, salads and avocado toast for you to enjoy after absorbing the art, or you could relax with a coffee and a toastie from the coffee truck in the courtyard.
The National Gallery in the heart of Dublin has a permanent collection that can be viewed all year round for free. Work by two of Ireland’s pioneering women artists, Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, is on show in The Art of Friendship collection, which brings together 90 of their pieces, and will be displayed until August 10th on a ticketed basis. Separately, An Artist’s Presence exhibition explores how artists have placed themselves in their work through drawings and paintings from the Gallery’s permanent collection. Admission is free and the works will be on display until September 14th.
The work of Ludovico Mazzolino is meanwhile showcased in The Crossing of the Red Sea exhibition until July 6th and can be viewed for free. Créatúir na Cartlainne/Tails from the Archive will also be exhibited for free, with featured work from Stephen McKenna, Bea Orpen, Barrie Cooke, Anne Yeats, Deborah Brown and others.
The Gallery Cafe is on Level 0 of the Millennium Wing, most easily accessed via the Clare Street entrance. Light bites such as bagels and pastries sit on the menu alongside salads, sandwiches and soup.
The RHA Gallery, on Ely Place in Dublin 2, is exhibiting its 195th RHA Annual Exhibition in association with McCann FitzGerald until August 3rd, with free entry.
Located within the gallery, Margadh operates as a cafe by day and wine bar by night. The cafe menu provides options such as avocado toast, granola and pastries while the wine bar has a tasting menu.
The Model in Sligo’s current exhibition is Jack Butler Yeats; The Dreaming Road, which will be on view until November 1st. On July 5th, Mairead O’hEocha; Extra Alphabets will open, with Flights from Reason, a programme of new works by film artists from Ireland, France, Britain, Poland and Sweden, due to open on July 13th.
The Ósta cafe at The Model offers a variety of soup, sandwiches, pancakes, sweet treats and much more.
Limerick’s LCGA is located on Pery Square in the city centre and offers free admission. Its current exhibition, On Waking, features new and existing work by Irish and British painters Jenny Eden, Christopher Hanlon, Harminder Judge, Gillian Lawler, Damien Meade, Karen Roulstone and Rebecca Sitar and will be displayed until August 10th. You also still have time to catch 40 X40, a selection of works by 40 women rtists from the LCGA and University of Limerick Collections, with two works by women collectives. This exhibition will be on show until July 13th.
The on-site cafe, Zest, provides a range of salads, soup and bread with family meals, platters and sweet treats available.
The Butler Gallery on John’s Quay in Kilkenny is exhibiting Through Line by the Kilkenny-based, Dutch-born artist Paul Bokslag until July 20th. Its ongoing exhibitions of the O’Malley and the Butler Gallery collections are also on display for free, showing the work of the late Kilkenny-born artist Tony O’Malley and artworks purchased or donated to the gallery.
The Wild Flower cafe, located on site, has a variety of options, from a full Irish and avocado toast to cakes and salads, for when hunger hits.
