{"id":663983,"date":"2026-10-24T11:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T11:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663983\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T11:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T11:16:15","slug":"paul-henry-painting-fetches-world-record-price-for-the-irish-artist-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663983\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Henry painting fetches world-record price for the Irish artist \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Henry\u2019s The Potato Harvest, depicting Mayo people digging for potatoes, set a world record price at auction for the Irish artist last week, selling for more than \u20ac1 million at Sotheby\u2019s in London. <\/p>\n

Henry, described as a \u201cvisual poet\u201d of the west of Ireland by Sotheby\u2019s, is known for his landscapes and seascapes of Achill Island, where he lived between 1910 and 1919.<\/p>\n

The Potato Harvest, an oil on canvas, which had an estimate of \u00a3250,000-\u00a3350,000, gained the top price in the Sotheby\u2019s auction in London on October 14th, selling for \u00a3883,200 (\u20ac1,048,535), including the buyer\u2019s premium. <\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 Zlattinger, head of UK and modern art in Europe for Sotheby\u2019s, says the painting was bought by an international collector with Irish roots, who already has Paul Henry paintings and other Irish works.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaintings by Roderic O\u2019Conor, William Orpen and Paul Henry are sought after by Irish collectors, expat Irish collectors, American, English and international collectors,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Irish art, he says, is comparable to Scottish and modern British art in terms of price and demand, adding that beautiful figurative paintings such as The Potato Harvest and Turf Gatherers by Paul Henry rarely come up for auction. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a number of them in public collections, but there has only been a handful of them in auctions over the last 20 years,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Arabella Bishop, an art adviser in Dublin, says the world-record price achieved by Paul Henry \u201cdemonstrates the appetite that exists for Irish art internationally and highlights the value of exposing our artists to a wider pool of collectors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bishop believes such international exposure strengthens its international reputation, and proves there is a wider market appeal for Irish art. The previous highest price achieved for a Paul Henry painting was \u00a3622,500 at a Christies auction in July 2021 for the painting, Mountains and Lake, Connemara.<\/p>\n

Other Irish artists also made an impact at the auction of modern British and Irish art. William Orpen\u2019s painting Little Spanish Dancer \u2013 which was auctioned for the first time \u2013 sold for \u00a3358,400, almost double its lower estimate of \u00a3180,000 at Sotheby\u2019s. <\/p>\n

Gerard Dillon\u2019s Boy Catching Crabs in Connemara sold for \u00a3281,600 to an international collector \u2013 more than double its upper estimate of \u00a3120,000. And Roderic O\u2019Conor\u2019s painting, Red Rocks and Foam, sold for \u00a3243,200, above its estimate of \u00a3150,000-\u00a3200,000. <\/p>\n

Not all Irish paintings sold \u2013 two Jack Butler Yeats paintings and a Paul Henry failed to sell. It shows that even works by these famous artists are sensitive to asking prices. <\/p>\n

Also in London, Christie\u2019s held an auction of British and Irish art on Wednesday, where another Paul Henry painting, The Fairy Thorn (\u00a3100,000-\u00a3150,000), held in the same collection since 1929 went under the hammer. It sold for well in excess of its estimate, achieving \u00a3256,000. It was first exhibited in New York as part of Contemporary Irish Art: First American Exhibition and bought by John Jakob Raskob, a prominent businessman who built the Empire State Building in New York. Jack Butler Yeats\u2019s The Crown of Ocean, painted in 1945, had an estimate of \u00a3100,000-\u00a3150,000 and sold for \u00a3128,000. <\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Henry’s The Fairy Thorn sold for \u00a3128,000 in London, well in excess of its estimate. <\/p>\n

There were also high expectations for the Gerard Dillon painting The Cottage Window (\u00a370,000-\u00a3100,000), which had been in the collection of the late Zoltan Lewinter-Frankl since 1950, the year it was painted. Hungarian-born, Belfast-based Lewinter-Frankl was a significant patron of fine art in Northern Ireland, collecting works by artists including Dillon, Colin Middleton, Daniel O\u2019Neill, Basil Blackshaw and others. It sold for \u00a3200,000.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, new collectors of art looking to buy more affordable paintings by living Irish artists may be drawn to works in the current online auction of prints, paintings, photographs and posters by Lot 100, which ends on November 3rd.<\/p>\n

Some of the standout pieces in the current auction include Cora Cummins\u2019s etching Hedge Verge (\u20ac300-\u20ac400), Gillian Hennessy\u2019s oil on canvas, Coastal Lines (\u20ac500-\u20ac700). The watercolour on paper of Lake Constance by Sophia Rosamund Praeger (1867-1954) also has a keen estimate of \u20ac300-\u20ac500. The Co Down born artists and sculptor also wrote and illustrated children\u2019s books as well as providing botanical illustrations from the books of her brother, the naturalist, Robert Lloyd Praeger. <\/p>\n

\"LakeLake Constance by Sophia Rosamund Praeger \"CoraCora Cummins\u2019s etching Hedge Verge (\u20ac300-\u20ac400) \"GillianGillian Hennessy: Coastal Lines (\u20ac500-\u20ac700) <\/p>\n

Finally, antique dealers throughout Ireland mourned the death of Robin O\u2019Donnell this week. O\u2019Donnell, who ran Hibernian Antique Fairs in venues throughout Ireland for over 30 years, was an enthusiastic and charismatic promoter of antiques and fine arts. A friend to small dealers and antique shop owners in towns across Ireland, he described himself in an Irish Times interview with Michael Parsons in 2016 for this column as \u201ca complete antiques nut who loved everything old\u201d. O\u2019Donnell grew up in Limerick and ran an antiques shop in that city from 1984 to 2000. He lived with his wife Lorraine in their home near Ballina, Co Tipperary. O\u2019Donnell died on Sunday, October 18th, following a short illness. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe late Robin O\u2019Donnell, of Hibernian Antique Fairs <\/p>\n

sothebys.com<\/a>; christies.com<\/a>; arabellabishop.com<\/a>; lot100.ie<\/a> <\/p>\n

What did it sell for?\"GerardGerard Dillon: Boys Catching Crabs in Connemara Boys Catching Crabs in Connemara, Gerard Dillon<\/p>\n

Estimate \u00a380,000 \u2013 \u00a3120,000<\/p>\n

Hammer price \u00a3281,600 (\u20ac336,000)<\/p>\n

Auction house Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

\"RodericRoderic O’Conor: Red Rocks and Foam Red Rocks and Foam, Roderic O\u2019Conor<\/p>\n

Estimate \u00a3150,000 \u2013 \u00a3200,000 <\/p>\n

Hammer price \u00a3243,200 (\u20ac288,727)<\/p>\n

Auction house Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

\"NathanielNathaniel Hone, the younger: Coastal Scene at Kilkee, Co Clare Coastal scene at Kilkee, Co Clare<\/p>\n

Estimate \u20ac6,000-\u20ac8,000<\/p>\n

Hammer price \u20ac7,000<\/p>\n

Auction house Fonsie Mealy<\/p>\n

\"PairPair of 19th-century Meissen Schneeballen vases Meissen schneeballen vases<\/p>\n

Estimate \u20ac3,000-\u20ac5,000<\/p>\n

Hammer price \u20ac9,500<\/p>\n

Auction house Fonsie Mealy<\/p>\n

\"AA porcelain blue and white plate from the Chinese Qing dynasty. Early Chinese Qing dynasty plate<\/p>\n

Estimate \u20ac1,500-\u20ac2,000<\/p>\n

Hammer price \u20ac1,400<\/p>\n

Auction house Fonsie Mealy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Henry\u2019s The Potato Harvest, depicting Mayo people digging for potatoes, set a world record price at auction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[79176,307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60,145165,4455],"class_list":["post-663983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-achill-island","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-paul-henry","tag-sothebys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}