Sir Hugh Lane (1875-1915) was the moving spirit in creating a museum of modern art in Ireland. Originally the Municipal Gallery, the Hugh Lane Gallery was opened in 1933 in an 18th-Century town house in central Dublin. The permanent collection includes works by Lavery (he split a donation of his work between the Hugh Lane and the Ulster Museum) and Simeon Solomon.    The gallery takes its mission as a gallery of modern art seriously, and access to the permanent collection may be curtailed by major exhibitions that you may not wish to see. To fill any remaining space, pictures relating to the formation of the Free State seem to be the default selection; although their artistic merit does not necessarily match their political interest.    The gallery is located just off Dublin's main artery, O'Connell Street, in Parnell Square. (Starting from the Liffey, take the next left after the passing the Gate Theatre.) The Hugh Lane is a near neighbour to the Writer's Museum (go out and turn left), which has a reasonably priced café. (You don't need to pay admission to the Writer's Museum -- just tell the person on the desk that you're going through to the restaurant, which is at the back of the building.) However there are other eateries, theme pubs etc. galore on O'Connell Street. Website

Works at Hugh Lane by Giovanni Boldini Edward Coley Burne-Jones Frederick William Burton George Clausen Norman Garstin John Lavery Antonio Mancini Albert Joseph Moore William Newenham Montague Orpen John Singer Sargent Charles Hazelwood Shannon Walter Richard Sickert Simeon Solomon Patrick J. Tuohy