Ireland day 1113. Tuesday 14 October 2024- Arty Day

Today’s summary	Took Val to the airport for a quick visit to the UK then I spent most of the rest of the day in Dublin. Visited a temporary art display in Gormleys Gallery, Charlemont Square, then went on to the National Gallery for tea and refreshments. Spanish in the evening
Today’s weather	Overcast and occasionally drizzly, but mostly dry. Light South Easterly wind. Appx 15c

Today’s overview location (The red mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The red mark shows where I walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

A bit of a different sort of a day today. It started with an early reveille at 6am for tea in bed before taking Val to the airport. She’s spending a couple of days in London – back on Thursday. It was a swift journey to and from the airport so I was back by 7:30 am. Just time for another cup of tea and a few moments to contemplate the day.

On the Club walk on Saturday, one of my companions had been talking about a new temporary art exhibition which was being put on, for free, at the Gormley gallery in Charlemont Square. As I’m always keen on things that are free, and as I’d never been to Charlemont Square, I decided I’d head down there today, to have a look around. As an additional incentive, it’s only open until this Thursday, so it was sort of now-or-never.

I wandered down to the station and in a stroke of good fortune, a diesel bound for Grand Canal Dock came in just as I was going through the ticket barriers. So I jumped on and sped south to Pearse Station in less than half an hour. Once disembarked, I got a cup of coffee and some breakfast (rather nice but expensive bircher muesli) at the Pret in Dawson Street. From there, I hopped on a Luas which deposited me two stops later at Harcourt Street, only a couple of minutes from the gallery.

I’m not really an art buff so I tend only to appreciate the simpler features of an installation. Like whether it is brightly coloured and whether it generally looks nice. So there was plenty to see in the exhibition today. I particularly liked the sculptures by Giacinto Bosco – I think we had seen some of the in Belfast and they are quite uplifting. But prohibitively expensive! There were also some Banksy and Warhol prints and some casts of Dali sculptures on show (and sale) too at huge prices. But I’m not really sure why they are so expensive – OK they are signed by the artist but does that really justify the six-figure price premium for what is essentially one of several hundred copies of the original?

Anyway, once I’d had a good look round I decided to stay in the arty vein and to go down to the National Gallery to see if there was anything new on display. It turned out that there were a couple of new shows, but nothing really grabbed my attention so I whizzed through quickly then stopped in the café for a cup of tea and a banana (see – I’m being really healthy!).

A quick DART from Pearse back to Malahide afterwards then I had a video catch up with Val and made another healthy meal of roast chicken, cottage cheese, tomatoes and nuts for dinner. So now I’m all set for the evening’s activities – another Spanish lesson in Portmarnock beckons. And on that note, I better knuckle down and bone up on my homework and refresh my mind when to use qué and when it should be quien. The difference is subtle but important!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Charlemont Square is a newly developed area in the south of Dublin which I hadn’t visited before. Very smart	Down in the basement gallery

Here’s a limited edition signed Andy Warhol print (“Birth of Venus”). One of just 70 copies, it could be yours for a mere €178,000	Banksy prints were also on display (“Girl with balloon”). This limited edition was one of 600 copies and was priced at €116,000. If he sold them all, he’d be doing pretty well. There’s obviously money to be made in graffiti

Looking north east from the corner of St Stephens Green by the Wolfe Tone monument	National Gallery of Art in Merrion Square. It always looks smart

“Ti prometto la luna” by Giacinto Bosco. I particularly liked it because it conveys a sense of hope and aspiration. I also think we first saw it in the lobby of the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. €59,500