The National Gallery of Ireland welcomed over 788,000 visitors in 2022
- Visitor attendance represented a 3.5% growth on 2019
- Second highest annual visitor attendance in recent years
The National Gallery of Ireland is delighted to announce that over 788,000 visitors were welcomed in 2022, marking the second highest attendance recorded in recent years. In what was a significant re-opening year, following two years of pandemic-related closure, visitor attendance increased by 3.5% compared to that of 2019.
In 2022, visitors from Ireland and abroad explored a variety of exhibitions such as Jack B. Yeats: Painting & Memory, Giacometti: From Life, the Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize, and Turner: The Sun is God. Significant new works displayed at the Gallery included Original Sins by Hughie O’Donoghue and Memento Civitatem by Alice Maher and Jamie Murphy.
The Gallery’s wide-ranging education programme, which is tailored to suit all ages and abilities, continued to deliver both in-person and online over the course of the year. Highlights in 2022 included National Drawing Day and the Your Gallery at School outreach programme. A special artist residency with Irish artist and fashion designer Richard Malone took place over the summer months. Malone created a response to the Giacometti: From Life show in his studio situated in the Millennium Wing.
The Gallery also continued to develop its audiences through its website and social media platforms. Ranked as Ireland’s leading cultural institution on social media with over 190,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. This represented a 6% growth year-on-year.
Welcoming the news, Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said: "The Government strongly supported investment in the arts during the pandemic. This increased capital and ongoing investment in our National Cultural Institutions has assisted the National Gallery to reach this significant milestone of exceeding its pre-pandemic visitor numbers. I would like to congratulate and thank the Board and staff of the Gallery for producing a cultural space and programme of excellent international standing."
Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: "We are proud to celebrate our visitor figures of over 788,000 people in 2022. I joined the Gallery in November and can see what an extraordinary result this is considering the challenges of international tourism, geopolitics and economics. We look forward to working with the tourism industry to continue to grow international visitors to Ireland and the Gallery. I would like to thank the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for their ongoing support."
Notes
1. Exhibitions that are continuing at the National Gallery of Ireland include:
- Zurich Portrait Prize & Zurich Young Portrait Prize - Open until 2 April 2023. Free entry. On display in Room 23, the exhibition features the 46 entries in this year's competitions. It showcases the best in new Irish portraiture.
- St Dymphna. The Tragedy of an Irish Princess - Open until 28 May 2023. Free entry. On display in the Grand Gallery. An exhibition of a large-scale restoration project and altarpiece triptych from The Phoebus Foundation’s collection by Goossen van der Weyden (1455-1543). This exhibition has been organised in partnership with The Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp.
- James Coleman: Still Life, 2013-2016 - Open until 8 October 2023. Free entry. A video installation, which presents a silent, large-scale projection of an uprooted poppy against a black background.
2. Upcoming exhibitions in 2023 at the National Gallery of Ireland are listed here. They include:
- Pastel Revealed - Open 25 February - 5 June 2023. Free entry. On display in the Print Gallery, this new spring exhibition will highlight the richness of the Gallery’s pastel collection, with works spanning four centuries. Supported by the Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland.
- Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker - Open 6 May - 27 August 2023. Ticketed. On view in the Beit Wing, this major new exhibition will be the first monographic exhibition to examine Lavinia Fontana’s work in over two decades, and the first to focus on her portraits. Proudly supported by Bank of America, Exhibition Partner.
3. Recent National Gallery of Ireland reviews:
- Business Post – Sara Keating: ‘The Zurich Young Portrait Prize is not merely a celebration of children’s creativity, but a recognition of child artist; a tangible gesture of respect.’
- The Irish Times - Tony Clayton-Lea: ‘James Coleman’s most recent work – a wordless, large-scale filmic projection of an uprooted poppy that initially seems motionless but over time reveals minuscule motion in the petals and roots – makes its debut in Ireland one year after its acquisition by the National Gallery, and what a mindful, meditative item it is.’
- The Irish Examiner - Marc O’Sullivan Vallig: ‘O’Donoghue’s sense of a dual identity, as an artist who is simultaneously Irish and English, has partly inspired the six large artworks in Original Sins, his current exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.’
Media contacts
Ciara Mooney, Communications, National Gallery of Ireland / [email protected]
Tanya Lawless, Communications, National Gallery of Ireland / [email protected]
Notes to Editor
For images, please email [email protected]
Visitor information at the National Gallery of Ireland
- The permanent collection and many temporary exhibitions are free for all to enjoy. Tickets are required for some temporary exhibitions.
- The National Gallery of Ireland is one of the country’s most popular visitor attractions housing the nation’s collection of European and Irish art from about 1300 to the present day, and an extensive Library & Archive. Entry to the collection is free for all to enjoy, learn and be inspired.