The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin is hosting the first-ever exhibition of William Blake's work in Ireland, titled "William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy." The show features major works such as "The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy" (c. 1795) from Tate, and includes a life mask of Blake painted by Francis Bacon, connecting the Romantic visionary to the 20th-century Irish-born artist. The article explores Blake's radical politics, his arrest for sedition in 1803, and his enduring influence on figures like Bacon and the critic David Sylvester.
This exhibition matters because it introduces Blake's visionary art to an Irish audience for the first time, while also highlighting his deep, previously unexplored connections to Dublin through Francis Bacon, who kept Blake's life mask in his London studio. By juxtaposing Blake's apocalyptic, anti-imperialist themes with Bacon's existential portraiture, the show offers a fresh lens on how Romantic-era radicalism continues to resonate in contemporary art and criticism. It also underscores the National Gallery of Ireland's role in staging cross-cultural, historically significant exhibitions.