Mainie Jellett — The Woman Who Brought Modern Art to Ireland

Irish Artist · 1897–1944

Mainie Jellett

The woman who brought modern art to Ireland — and paid for it in ridicule before she was proven right.

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The Story

Mainie Jellett (1897–1944) is the most important Irish painter most people have never heard of — the woman who dragged Ireland, kicking and sceptical, into the modern age.

Born Mary Harriet Jellett on 29 April 1897 at 36 Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin, she was the eldest of four daughters of a barrister father and a musical mother. She trained first at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under William Orpen — himself now one of the best-loved names in this gallery — before moving to London to study under Walter Sickert. But it was Paris that made her.

In 1921, together with her lifelong friend Evie Hone, Jellett sought out the Cubist painters André Lhote and then Albert Gleizes, persuading Gleizes to take the two Irishwomen on as private students. There she learned to build a painting the way a composer builds music — form for its own sake, rhythm, and balance rather than mere representation. Her Decoration (1923) was among the very first abstract paintings ever exhibited in Ireland.

Dublin was not ready. When she showed her Cubist work in 1923, critics were savage — one dismissed it as "an insoluble jigsaw." She spent the next two decades winning the argument. Through teaching, lecturing and relentless public advocacy, Jellett became the intellectual leader of Irish modernism, and in 1943 she co-founded the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, the single most important platform for modern Irish artists for a generation.

Her late work turned inward and spiritual. Paintings like The Virgin of Éire (c.1943) fused Cubist structure with religious feeling and a distinctly Irish iconography — abstraction in the service of the sacred. She was already gravely ill with cancer when Living Art opened; she died in 1944, aged just 47. She had changed Irish art permanently. Today her paintings are the most collected works in this gallery — and, we think, that is exactly as it should be.

Timeline

  • 1897 — Born in Dublin, 29 April.
  • 1914–17 — Studies at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under William Orpen.
  • 1917–20 — Studies in London under Walter Sickert.
  • 1921 — Moves to Paris; studies Cubism under Lhote, then Albert Gleizes, with Evie Hone.
  • 1923 — Exhibits Decoration, among the first abstract works shown in Ireland; met with hostility.
  • 1941 — Paints Achill Horses — Cubist rhythm applied to the west of Ireland.
  • 1943 — Co-founds the Irish Exhibition of Living Art; paints The Virgin of Éire.
  • 1944 — Dies of cancer, aged 47.
  • 2015 — Enters the public domain; her work becomes freely reproducible.

Where She Painted

Click a pin to see the painting tied to each place — from the horses of Achill to the Cubist studios of Paris.

Achill Island · Dublin · Paris — the three places that made her art.

The Complete Available Collection

Every available Mainie Jellett print, led by her most collected works — The Virgin of Éire, Achill Horses, and A Composition, Sea Rhythm.

View all Mainie Jellett prints

Styling Her Work at Home

Achill Horses on canvas is made for a modern, minimalist room — its Cubist rhythm reads as bold, contemporary abstraction. The Virgin of Éire, framed, suits a period Dublin interior or a quiet, contemplative corner. A Composition, Sea Rhythm belongs in a coastal home, echoing the movement of the sea.

Collector's Guide

Start with Achill Horses — her most accessible work, and a perfect introduction to her Cubist style. From there, move to the abstract Compositions, where form becomes pure rhythm. The Virgin of Éire is the centrepiece of any Jellett collection — the summit of her spiritual, late period. A set of three Jellett prints tells the whole arc of her career: from Cubism, through abstraction, to the sacred.

The Jellett Lover's Gift Guide

Three signature works, three price points — a perfect introduction to her art.

Discover Similar Artists

William Orpen — her teacher at the Metropolitan School of Art. · Roderic O'Conor — Irish modernism abroad. · John Lavery — Ireland's great society painter.