From the time of his first trip to Ireland in 1913 and his last trip in 1928, American artist Robert Henri created masterful paintings of the Irish landscape and people, particularly children. These engaging paintings offer a fascinating window onto the genre about which Henri felt most strongly–portraiture–and also serve as a way to chart his experiments with paint handling and color theories. In Ireland, he was able to focus on his painting without the distractions of life in New York. The periods Henri spent in Ireland were among his most prolific, and the paintings that he produced there among his most accomplished.

Essays explore Henri’s familiarity with Irish subjects and culture prior to his first trip to Ireland, and focus on the striking portraits that he created during his Irish sojourns.