Lá Fhéile Pádraig

St Patrick’s Church, Ringsend, Dublin – window by Harry Clarke

Croagh Patrick by Kim Day, Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2026

National Gallery of Ireland, 5 March 2026: There’s something new on our walls today! The winner of Sky Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 was revealed last night as Kim Day, and her commission, a striking acrylic and pastel painting of Croagh Patrick, has joined our collection.

Curator Dr Brendan Rooney (pictured with Kim at the painting’s unveiling) says: “Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo, known locally as ‘The Reek’, is considered Ireland’s holiest mountain, and has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. It is named after Ireland’s patron saint, who is believed to have spent forty days fasting on its summit, but was a gathering place for the celebration of Lughnasa long before the arrival of Christianity. In this painting, at once abstracted and familiar, Day references the longstanding tradition of torchlight processions up Croagh Patrick, which seem to animate the mountain and enhance its spiritual significance.”.

Come and see the painting hanging in Room 16 the next time you visit us. Admission free.

Presented, Storyvault Films, 2026.

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