An Introduction to Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks

Read Conor Goodman’s introduction to the series below.

Check out the entire 100 Artworks series.

Over the next two years, Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks, which begins today with a profile of James Joyce’s ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’, will assess the creative output of modern Ireland from the revolutionary period to today.

Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks is a collaboration between ‘The Irish Times’ and the Royal Irish Academy. A panel of experts convened by the academy has chosen a single Irish artwork – book, painting, sculpture, play, poem or building – for each year from 1916 to 2015. Every Saturday Fintan O’Toole and panel members will profile one of these works in ‘The Irish Times’, finishing, in late 2016, with a work from 2015.

The 100 artworks will be drawn from the literary and visual arts. We will not neglect other areas of creative endeavour, however. As the project progresses we will also periodically include separate strands on 100 years of Irish music and song, Irish humour and Irish film.

Read the introduction in full.

Have a look at the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

Learn more about the Art and Architecture of Ireland project with our introductory video.