Ireland’s best portraits of 2022: National Gallery of Ireland reveals Zurich prize shortlists

The contenders for this year’s Zurich portrait prizes have been revealed by the National Gallery of Ireland.

Twenty-six artists have been shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Prize; 20 artists, aged between four and 18, have been shortlisted for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize. All have made it through to the final round out of hundreds of entries, in a variety of media, from across the country.

The winner of the Zurich Portrait Prize will receive a cash award of €15,000 plus a €5,000 commission to create a work for the national portrait collection. Two additional prizes of €1,500 will be given to highly commended works from those shortlisted. The judges are the artist Diana Copperwhite, Anna O’Sullivan of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, and the artist Nick Miller.

In the Zurich Young Portrait Prize, five winners – one from each age category plus an overall winner – will receive art supplies as well as a cash prize; all shortlisted artists will have their work professionally framed/prepared. The judges are Janet McLean of the National Gallery of Ireland, the comic illustrator Nick Roche, and the artist Una Sealy.

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Sean Rainbird, the gallery’s director, says he is “delighted that this exhibition gives many new and returning artists the opportunity to show their work at the National Gallery of Ireland”. The prizes “bring together the remarkable breadth of talent in Ireland’s portrait artists of all ages”, according to Neil Freshwater, the chief executive of Zurich Insurance. “We are delighted to see such a strong selection of works once again in this year’s shortlists.”

The shortlisted works for both competitions will be on display at the National Gallery of Ireland, on Merrion Square in Dublin, from Saturday, November 26th, until April 2nd next year. The exhibition will then be on display at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, between June 3rd and September 2nd, 2023.

Zurich Portrait Prize 2022: The 26 shortlisted artists

• Rachel Ballagh (Cork), Back Garden, 2021, photograph
• Zsolt Basti (Dublin), Megan and Ophelia, 2021, oil on canvas
• Shane Blount (Wicklow), Lately I’ve Been Seeing Rainbows, 2022, oil on canvas
• Patrick Bolger (Dublin/Wicklow), Louise Kennedy, 2022, photograph
• David Booth (Dublin), Salvatore, 2021, oil on board
• Enda Burke (Galway), Deirdre by the Window, 2021, photograph
• Aisling Coughlan (Dublin), Dead Dad, 2021, oil on wood panel
• Catherine Creaney (Tyrone), Care, oil on linen
• David Creedon (Cork), Rustam Saidaliev — Sanctuary in a New Land, 2022, photograph
• Ian Cumberland (Down), 14314 days, 2022, oil on linen
• Barry Delaney (Dublin), Forty Footer, 2021, photograph
• Aodán Feeney (Galway), Dead Weight, 2022, oil on canvas
• Alexis Pearse Flynn (London), Self-portrait five days after vaccination, 2021, oil on gessoed board
• Vanessa Jones (Dublin), HoMi Hand Plow (self-portrait), 2020, Oil on canvas
• Bernadette Kiely (Kilkenny), An Artist Becomes Their Work [portrait of Paul Mosse in his studio], 2021, oil on canvas
• Vera Klute (Kilkenny), Self-Portrait, 2020, oil on plywood
• Gavin Leane (Dublin), Several Days Hence, 2022, photograph
• Emily McGardle (Monaghan), Rictus, 2022, pencil and pen on paper
• Fiach McGuinne (Dublin), MacDara, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas
• Tom McLean (Galway), Cocoon, 2022, oil on linen
• Mick O’Dea (Dublin), At Dysert O’Dea, 2020, oil on canvas
• Liz Purtill (Kerry), Dermot, 2022, egg tempera on aluminium panel
• Cara Rose (Dublin), Double Self Portrait, 2021, coloured pencil on paper
• Sorcha Frances Ryder (Dublin), My Bedroom As A Depressed College Graduate (Self-portrait), 2022, photograph
• Marie Smith, (Cavan) Stephanie, 2022, fired clay on wooden stand
• Marc O’Sullivan Vallig (Cork), Alex, 2021, oil on canvas

Zurich Young Portrait Prize 2022: The 20 shortlisted artists

• Katie Cashin (Clare), My friend Olivia, clay, bottle, paint, marbles, wool, beads
• Zara Craig (Antrim), Study by Candlelight, oil on canvas
• Páidí Daly (Meath), Me and My Daddy, paint on canvas
• Cassandra Dennehy (Dublin), My Favourite Coat and Hat, acrylic paint on paper
• PJ Doherty (Donegal), Focus, coloured pencils on paper
• Sean Fitzpatrick (Wexford), Constructing Ella, pencil and charcoals on paper
• Haochen Gao (Dublin), I Like Balls, oil pastels on canvas
• Viktoria Kroejeva (Clare), Day Out, oil and acrylic paint on canvas
• James Cowley Lane (Meath), Macdara, Macdara, plaster powder, clay
• Jiayi Lu (Dublin), Sunny Morning, pencil and acrylic on paper
• Ross McHale (Kildare), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, oil on canvas
• Red Redican (Kildare), Bailey’s Life Is a Highway, watercolour paint and pen on paper
• Cathal Ryan (Clare), Bullman, acrylic paint on card
• Róisín Ryan (Cork), Me in the Stars, marker on paper
• Meilin Ava Song (Dublin), New Beginning, paint on canvas
• Aoife Sweeney (Clare), Pastel Sky, acrylic paint on card
• Pierre Gaultier Swords (Cavan), Self-Portrait of Pierre, oil pastels and markers on paper
• Freya Wilkinson (Meath), Self-Portrait, oil on paper
• Grace Yu (Dublin), My Mum, pencil on paper
• Yujin Zhu (Dublin), Fred, colouring pencils on paper