One hundred years ago, Dublin city had the good fortune to acquire an art museum that, in the words of the French newspaper Le Figaro, was "rich in beautiful works, a museum envied by the most prosperous states and the proudest cities".
Dublin's Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, originally in a temporary home on Harcourt Street but in Parnell Square since 1933, was born out of the vision and generosity of one man, Hugh Lane.
These beautiful works - including a number of Impressionist masterpieces - came from a collection that evolved out of Lane's passion for the work of painters such as Monet, Manet, Courbet, Degas and Renoir. Lane, whose introduction to Irish cultural circles was through his aunt, Lady Gregory, had the good taste and keen eye to make him one of the most astute connoisseurs of his time.
The art lover and patron initially had to overcome a degree of philistinism and hostility to his notion of a modern art gallery before its doors opened on January 20th 1908. Despite many setbacks, it was, as The Irish Times at the time stated, Lane's "obstinacy and pertinacity, combined with insight and judgment" that finally resulted in the establishment of a gallery that has been one of the city's major cultural attractions ever since.
The Lane bequest, unfortunately, was not a straightforward affair. The legal mess that followed his death in 1915 when the Lusitania went down, led to prolonged negotiation to get the pictures back to Dublin from the National Gallery in London - the codicil to his will leaving them to Dublin had not been witnessed. Since 1993, 31 of the paintings have been permanently on view here, while the other eight alternate between the two cities. This summer Dublin and its visitors will be afforded the welcome opportunity to see the collection in its entirety.
The gallery, of course, has not stood still. Its collection has been enhanced and expanded by the addition of work by each succeeding generation of Irish artists, as well as notable international names. The studio of Dublin-born Francis Bacon was incorporated into the gallery in 1998, and another native of the city, the renowned artist Sean Scully, donated a group of paintings which form a keynote display in the gallery's imaginative new space.
Hugh Lane's selfless patronage of public art collections in Ireland - he also donated significant major works to the National Gallery - was exemplary. His memory would now be well served if his gestures of cultural philanthropy were emulated by those contemporary collectors in a position to further enhance our public galleries by relinquishing work from their private collections.