Impressive Impressionist Interiors at National Gallery

Every now and then one has to try a new approach to make art interesting - especially as a curator who does not produce, but only display. The National Gallery of Ireland rose to this challenge when putting together the current headline exhibition. And curator Janet McLean (European Art 1850-1950) certainly pulled together an unsual exhibition. Impressionists themselves may be an old hat. But one usually connected to the outside. Here we are asked to look at "Impressionist Interiors". With some big names weighing in ...

More than three dozen works make up the impressive exhibition. Many are from the National Gallery's own collection, but others have been specially brought in from Europe and the USA.

Among the greats of impressionism represented in Dublin you'll find Manet and his confusingly named colleague Monet, Degas, Renoir and Cassatt as well as Gauguin, Anthonissen and Morisot. All taking an inward look.

You might, for instance, know old Paul Gauguin best for his gaudy renditions of life in the tropics. His 1881 painting of his own home in the Rue Carcel is certainly different, almost dark and monochrome. Other "interiors" are more or less portraits in an interior setting - among these Renoir's "Jeune femme en blanc lisant", a recent acquisition by the National Gallery. Or Zandomeneghi's almost erotic painting of a young girl in bed, a celebration of innocence, hinting at the loss of same?

Definitely worth going, despite the (at first glance) hefty entrance fee of € 10. "Impressionist Interiors" are on show until August 10th in Dublin's National Gallery, a few paces from Merrion Square.