Irish Museum of Modern Art

The Royal Hospital in Kilmainham a Dublin suburb was founded in 1684 by James Butler, Duke of Ormonde and Viceroy to Charles II. It was designed along the lines of Les Invalides in Paris as a home for retired soldiers and continued as such for almost 250 years. In 1984 the Irish government restored the building and it was reopened as the Irish Museum of Modern Art in May 1991. There is a strong connection between the IMMA and the ROSC. The latter is an Irish Gaelic word roughly translated as ‘the poetry of vision’– which ran from 1967–88. More than a simple coincidence of venue, these two events, the discontinuation of ROSC and the establishment of IMMA were intimately connected.

The museum is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection of modern and contemporary art and houses nearly 1800 works reflecting trends in Irish and international art. The range of work is vast and includes sculpture, paintings, prints and installations from artists as diverse as J. B. Yeats and Gilbert & George. Other artists include Robert Ballagh, Basil Blackshaw, James Coleman, Barrie Cooke, Michael Craig-Martin, Dorothy Cross, William Crozier, Gerard Dillon,Willie Doherty, Barry Flanagan, Patrick Hall, Paul Henry, Patrick Hickey, Derek Hill, Howard Hodgkin, Evie Hone, Gary Hume, Mainie Jellett, Cecil King, Langlands and Bell, Louis le Brocquy, Hughie O’Donaghue, Tony O’Malley, Kathy Prendergast, Elizabeth Rivers, Patrick Scott, William Scott, Sean Scully, Camille Souter, Anne Yeats and more. Recent donations include 46 works form the Bank of Ireland collection.