TheCity

Author: James Black

  • The Picasso Exhibition Dublin 

    The Picasso Exhibition Dublin 

    By James Black

    A new exhibition celebrating the work of Picasso has opened at the National Gallery of Ireland. The exhibition spans several periods of Picasso ‘s   life, showcasing the evolution of his style and vision.

    The thoughtfully designed exhibition consists of four interconnected rooms arranged in an open plan that allows visitors to move freely between them.

    The first room shows Picasso’s early years and explores how he developed into the artist we know today.

    The remaining three rooms are arranged chronologically, tracing the evolution of his style across different periods of his life. Informative panels throughout the gallery explain how Picasso’s relationships and experiences influenced his art, making the exhibition engaging and accessible even for visitors unfamiliar with his work.

     

    Photo 1: This Picasso introduction is the first piece of information that visitors are greeted with as they enter the Picasso exhibition in the National Gallery. The piece provides background context to the artist and the works that are on display.

    Photo 2: One of the exhibitions most iconic works, this portrait of Marie-Therese Walter from 1937 was the chosen image for the exhibitions promotional run, given how symbolic it is; Picasso had been in a relationship with Marie-Therese Walter for a decade when he painted the picture.

    Photo 3: This standout piece displays Picasso’s change in style from portraits to scenes. Produced in January 1951, the image depicts a wintery view of Vallauris from Picasso’s studio. 

    Photo 4: This photo shows the layout of one of the rooms in which Picasso’s work is on display. The room is centered around a bronze statue of his, surrounded by other works of art from the same era with a video of Picasso discussing his works and creative process.

    Photo 5: This photo shows the range that Picasso had as an artist. The piece of art is positioned in the center of the room and is surrounded by different art works from the same period showing similarities and contrasts in his work.

    Photo 6: In this photograph we see the wide range of ceramics that Picasso produced during his lifetime. The image displays how his ceramics changed and developed over the late 1940s. He created over 1000 unique ceramic pieces between the years 1947 and 1948.

    Photo 7: In this photograph we can see people watching a projected recording of Picasso. In the video Picasso discussed both his art and what inspired him at various stages of his life. 

    Photo 8: This photograph displays another of Picasso’s paintings that he done during 1956 called Femmes E la toilette.

  • Greening The Liberties 10 Years On

    Greening The Liberties 10 Years On

    In 2015 Dublin City Council first proposed a plan and a strategy for giving the Liberties in Dublin 8 a greener look. This greening strategy set out to produce new parks and green areas while improving existing ones in the area.

    The Liberties, an area notorious for its name and old Dublin heritage, was once one of the most deprived areas of Dublin. The last 20 years has seen a huge social and demographic shift, with rising house prices changing the profile of the area to one of greater affluence.

    Yet the Liberties still has a dilapidated look to many of its buildings, and shop fronts with little or no green space. This prompted the council to instigate a new greening strategy that would tackle both the lack of green spaces, but also provide more trees to the area and an improvement to the shop fronts.

    It has now been 10 years since the original strategy was put in place by Dublin City Council. We will look at the improvements and changes that the Liberties has undergone in this time, and the further improvements that are still yet to happen.

    In the plan proposed by the council they discussed how they wanted to use two areas in which social housing had been demolished. Today we see that their proposal for the area was successful in the area around Bridgefoot Street.

    Bridgefoot street is now home to one of Dublin’s newest eco parks that embraces the ethos of recycle and reuse, having many unique features in the park that have been recycled. The park is also home to over 180 trees and has become a green space for all to use.

    Recycled feature at Bridgefoot park. Photo: James Black.

    Weaver Park is another green space which is new to the city and has become a beacon of joy for the children in the area as it was designed with a skating bowl and other skating features, with a playground in the park giving children full reign to enjoy its space.

    Weaver Park was built on the second social housing site which was proposed in the strategy. “A neighbourhood park on the site of demolished Chamber St. flats. The site has been given the working title of Weaver Park which reflects the history of the area as a centre of weaving and linen manufacture,” according to the Dublin City Council.

    The Council also planned to improve street level experiences for people in the Liberties. One of the plans involved improving High St with greenery and seats that would engage passers by.

    Today we can see this level of greenery on the street but to say it engages the passerby may not be true as this part of they greening strategy did not go to plan like some of the other parks and plans proposed. “The proposal for High St seeks to enhance the pedestrian experience and visual coherency of the Dublin route,” says Dublin City Council.

    High Street greenery. Photo By: James Black.

    In the last 10 years the Liberties has seen massive improvements in the green sector, from parks to planted trees and it continues to see redevelopment and new construction regularly. There is also a push now in 2025 from the council to encourage new green start ups to consider the area for their business.