Today’s excursion at the National Gallery of Ireland was absolutely incredible. The Vermeer exhibit was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity and I loved it much more than I thought I would. I’m so glad we got tickets even though it’s not related to Irish Literature or History (since Vermeer is Dutch). After being fully immersed in Dublin and Irish culture, it was nice to step back for a bit and appreciate another culture in context. My favorite paintings are Woman with a Balance and the pair The Astronomer and The Geographer.

Before we went through the Vermeer exhibit, we were able to walk around the rest of the gallery, and I absolutely loved it! I am not as interested in the Picassos of the art world, but I did notice that a lot of the paintings or sculptures in one of the European Art exhibits (1850-1950 I believe, but I’m not positive) were actually donated or presented by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty – if that name sounds familiar, its because of the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle! I mentioned this in my other blog post about him, but Chester Beatty understood that art needed to be accessible to people of all classes, so he would purposely buy art just to donate it to museums and other places and people so they could be exhibited and seen by everyone. I remember a worker at the Chester Beatty Library saying that what was on display there was only 1% of Beatty’s possessions and purchases, and seeing his gifts in the National Gallery reinforced that number. It was wonderful seeing his name on a lot of the artwork, and his cause is admirable – no matter where you come from or how much money you make, Beatty wanted to make sure you were able to see these masterpieces that he loved to find and purchase.