Louis le Brocquy

Louis le Brocquy was born in Dublin in 1916. Leaving Ireland in 1938 to study the major European art collections in London, Paris, Venice and Geneva, he returned in the 1940s where he participated in the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, departing for London in 1946 where he soon became prominent on the contemporary art scene. Later he began to exhibit internationally and - representing Ireland - won a major prize at the Venice Biennale in 1956. In 1958 he married fellow artist Anne Madden and left London to work in France.

He received an invitation, in December 1966, to collaborate with publisher Liam Miller on a new translation of Ireland's oldest saga, An Táin Bó Cúailnge. Accepting, le Brocquy spent much of the next three years visualising the project, before its publication in 1969. His lithographic brush drawings for The Táin were celebrated by critics, and would endure as one of the crowning achievements, and culturally significant artworks, of his career.

The artist would enjoy continuous acclaim throughout his long career, which spanned over six decades and can be broken up roughly into ten, sometimes overlapping, periods; the ‘Tinker’ (1945-1948), ‘Grey’ (1951-54) and ‘White’ (1956-66) periods, the ‘Ancestral’ (1964-75) and ‘Portrait’ (1975-2000) Heads, his series of Still Lifes (1981-1998), ‘Processions’ (1984-92) and ‘Irish Landscapes’ (1987-94), before his ‘Human Image’ (1996-05) and, finally, the ‘Homage’ (2005-06) series towards the end of his career and life.

Le Brocquy is recognised by many as one of the greatest Irish artists of the twentieth century, and one of the greatest of any era of Irish art. He was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1975 and received the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 2007. The realisation of over £1.7 million for his 1951 painting A Family at auction in 2000 was a record at the time for an Irish artist’s work, placing him among a very select group of British and Irish artists whose works have commanded in excess of £1 million in their lifetime, an acknowledgement of his illustrious profile in the art community internationally as well as at home. Le Brocquy died on 25 April 2012. Before his passing, he was the only artist to have received the distinctive honour of being included during his lifetime in the Permanent Irish Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. His works can be found in some of the world’s most important public collections including the Guggenheim Museum, New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Go Back

Found 662 item(s) / Showing 1-28

'A FAMILY, 1951'
- Price Realised: €680,000
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- oil on canvas board
- 30 by 40cm., 11.7 5 by 15.7 5i
'THE TÁIN COLLECTION'
- Price Realised: €245,000
- Sale: 21 May 2012
- Aubusson tapestry; Atelier René Duché (each no. 4 from an edition of 9)
- 72.5 by 110in., 184.15 by 279.4cm.
'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1980'
- Price Realised: €210,000
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- oil on canvas
- 31½ x 31½in. (80.01 x 80.01cm)
'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1994'
- Price Realised: €200,000
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- oil on canvas
- 46 x 35in. (116.84 x 88.90cm)
'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1994'
- Price Realised: €180,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on canvas
- 117 by 89cm., 46 by 35in.
'IMAGE OF PICASSO, 1983'
- Price Realised: €140,000
- Sale: 07 December 2020
- oil on canvas
- 39 x 39in. (99.06 x 99.06cm)
'ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN, 1951-1952'
- Price Realised: €140,000
- Sale: 29 May 2017
- Aubusson Tapestry, Atelier Tabard Frères et Soeurs, France; (from an edition of 9)
- 55 x 108¼in. (139.70 x 274.96cm)
'RECONSTRUCTED HEAD'
- Price Realised: €130,000
- Sale: 27 April 2004
- oil on canvas
- 150 by 150cm., 59 by 59in.
'THE TAIN - A COMPLETE SET, 1969'
- Price Realised: €120,000
- Sale: 25 April 2006
- each print signed, inscribed, dated and numbered with edition
- 54 by 38cm., 21.2 by 15in.
'IMAGE OF FRANCIS BACON II, 1979'
- Price Realised: €115,000
- Sale: 22 March 2021
- oil on canvas
- 30 x 30in. (76.20 x 76.20cm)
'THE GARLANDED GOAT, 1950'
- Price Realised: €106,654
- Sale: 13 June 2001
- Aubusson Tapestry
- 157 by 127cm., 62 by 50in.
'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1982'
- Price Realised: €100,000
- Sale: 27 May 2024
- oil on canvas
- 27½ x 27½in. (69.85 x 69.85cm)
'ENTRANCE OF THE DARKWIND (KHYBER PASS DALKEY 1942)'
- Price Realised: €83,800
- Sale: 13 March 2001
- oil on board
- 58 by 36cm., 22.7 by 14in.
'REACHING. HOMAGE TO JOHN MONTAGUE, 1968'
- Price Realised: €80,000
- Sale: 26 February 2018
- oil on canvas; (hexaptych)
- 33 x 40in. (83.82 x 101.60cm)
'CHILD WITH DOLL, HOMMAGE A JANKEL ADLER, 1949'
- Price Realised: €80,000
- Sale: 28 April 2008
- drawing in carbon with watercolour and bodycolour
- 62 by 46cm., 24.5 by 18.2 5in.
'BEING [734], 2000'
- Price Realised: €78,000
- Sale: 30 November 2015
- oil on canvas
- …my aim was to reach into their inner being, something merely suggested in the earlier works. From the start these later works appear to have developed a certain granular surface structure covering the entire canvas. This surface suggested particles, whic
'THE TAIN - A COMPLETE SET OF THIRTY-SIX LITHOGRAPHS, 1969'
- Price Realised: €75,000
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- thirty-six lithographs, individually framed (no. 53 from the
- 62 by 38cm., 24.2 5 by 15in.
'ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN, 1950-1952'
- Price Realised: €70,000
- Sale: 26 November 2012
- colour-inverted Aubusson tapestry, Atelier René Duché; (no. 4 from an edition of 9)
- 55 by 108in., 139.7 by 274.32cm.
'TRAVELLERS, 1948'
- Price Realised: €58,000
- Sale: 26 September 2016
- Aubusson tapestry, Atelier Tabard Frères et Soeurs, France; (from an edition of 9)
- 70¼ x 39¼in. (178.44 x 99.70cm)
'LEMON GROWING, 1993'
- Price Realised: €54,000
- Sale: 29 September 2008
- oil on canvas
- 27 by 36cm., 10.7 by 14in.
'TAIN TAPESTRY: CÚCHULAINN VI, 1977'
- Price Realised: €52,000
- Sale: 28 April 2008
- Aubusson wool tapestry (no. 1 from an edition of 9)
- 180 by 180cm., 71 by 71in.
'WOUNDED PIGEON'
- Price Realised: €50,000
- Sale: 22 February 2005
- oil on canvas
- 38 by 46cm., 15 by 18in.
'STUDY FOR A FAMILY, 1951'
- Price Realised: €49,000
- Sale: 04 March 2019
- pencil, pen and ink and wash on paper
- 8½ x 10½in. (21.59 x 26.67cm)
'ORANGE, 1972'
- Price Realised: €48,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on canvas
- 38 by 46cm., 15 by 18in.
'PEONY, 1991'
- Price Realised: €47,000
- Sale: 27 November 2017
- oil on canvas
- 10 x 12in. (25.40 x 30.48cm)
'STUDY FOR RIVERRUN: PROCESSION WITH LILIES, 1984'
- Price Realised: €46,000
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- oil on canvas
- 14¾ x 18in. (37.47 x 45.72cm)
'JAMES JOYCE STUDY, 1978'
- Price Realised: €46,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- watercolour
- 39 by 36cm., 15.5 by 14in.
'EDEN'
- Price Realised: €45,000
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- tapestry
- 112 by 175cm., 44 by 69in.

'A FAMILY, 1951'

'THE TÁIN COLLECTION'

'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1980'

'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1994'

'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1994'

'IMAGE OF PICASSO, 1983'

'ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN, 1951-1952'

'RECONSTRUCTED HEAD'

'THE TAIN - A COMPLETE SET, 1969'

'IMAGE OF FRANCIS BACON II, 1979'

'THE GARLANDED GOAT, 1950'

'IMAGE OF SAMUEL BECKETT, 1982'

'ENTRANCE OF THE DARKWIND (KHYBER PASS DALKEY 1942)'

'REACHING. HOMAGE TO JOHN MONTAGUE, 1968'

'CHILD WITH DOLL, HOMMAGE A JANKEL ADLER, 1949'

'BEING [734], 2000'

'THE TAIN - A COMPLETE SET OF THIRTY-SIX LITHOGRAPHS, 1969'

'ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN, 1950-1952'

'TRAVELLERS, 1948'

'LEMON GROWING, 1993'

'TAIN TAPESTRY: CÚCHULAINN VI, 1977'

'WOUNDED PIGEON'

'STUDY FOR A FAMILY, 1951'

'ORANGE, 1972'

'PEONY, 1991'

'STUDY FOR RIVERRUN: PROCESSION WITH LILIES, 1984'

'JAMES JOYCE STUDY, 1978'

'EDEN'