The National Gallery of Ireland announces the acquisition of Jack B. Yeats’ Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park (1921)

The National Gallery of Ireland has announced the acquisition of Jack B. Yeats’s iconic painting, Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park (1921). This significant addition to the national collection deepens the Gallery’s representation of one of Ireland’s most beloved and influential artists, while offering a poignant reflection on a pivotal moment in Irish history. The painting was purchased in 2024, with special support from the Government of Ireland and a generous contribution from a private donor. It is now on display for visitors to see at the National Gallery of Ireland.

The title of this newly acquired work references ‘The Dark Rosaleen (Róisín Dubh)’, a 19th-century adaptation by James Clarence Mangan of an Elizabethan poem, later set to music. In 1921, the same year Yeats painted this picture, Thomas P. Whelan described The Dark Rosaleen as “a passionate address in verse to Ireland, written for a nation that still drank from the cup of sorrow.”

Though Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park does not explicitly reference the violent events at Croke Park on 21 November 1920, known as Bloody Sunday, its title, setting, and sombre tone evoke the tragedy and its consequences. On that day, during a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary, Auxiliaries Crown Forces opened fire on spectators, killing 14 civilians, and injuring 60 others.

As one of Yeats’s few overtly political works, this painting stands as a deeply personal response from a keenly sensitive individual to a seismic moment in Irish history. While it is unclear whether the scene represents a specific moment Yeats observed, an amalgamation of separate sketches, or a product of his imagination is unclear. However, sketchbooks in the Gallery’s Yeats archive containing multiple depictions of hurling matches at Croke Park indicate Yeats’s familiarity with the setting.

When the painting was first exhibited in 1921, The Freeman’s Journal remarked on the "surge of patriotic emotion that the most dismal surroundings cannot repress." Much like Bachelor’s Walk, In Memory, which the Gallery acquired in 2021, Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park is a lament in the aftermath of the episode rather than a depiction of the violence itself.

This acquisition is a testament to the National Gallery of Ireland's commitment to preserving and presenting Ireland’s artistic and historical legacy, ensuring that future generations can engage with the powerful narratives woven into the national collection. The Gallery would like to thank the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport for their ongoing support.

Uachtarán CLG, Jarlath Burns said: “No other event in our 141 years of history ties the GAA to Ireland quite like the events of Bloody Sunday at Croke Park in 1920, and the attack by Crown Forces at the Dublin and Tipperary football match which resulted in slaughter and the loss of 14 innocent lives.

“It was an atrocity that had no comparison in a brutal and bloody war of independence. It changed Ireland’s relationship with the GAA, and it bound us forever to the field on Jones’s Road and the pitch we call Croke Park.

“It is a place where GAA titans have enthralled us playing our native games and where we have celebrated our unique identity and culture and passed it on ó ghluin go gluin.

“Today, Croke Park stands as a monument to the extraordinary dedication and sacrifice of men and women all over Ireland who have built the phenomenal movement that is the GAA. A movement based on volunteerism, community service and pride in the place we call home. Croke Park is one of the finest sporting arenas anywhere in the world and a great source of pride to us all.

“Woven tightly into the fabric of that narrative is Bloody Sunday and the connection we feel. It is not something we talk about. But it is something you feel. Croke Park is most definitely a feeling. And amidst the range of emotions that course through you is always an understanding that it is different and it is special.

“What Jack B Yeats captures in this painting is that feeling. Depicting the venue in 1921, you get the sense here that Croke Park is different, and it is more than a pitch. You sense the sorrow in the air and the heavy hearts of the crowd shuffling along.

“And yet, within that sombre tone there is the playing and singing of Roisín Dubh and the defiance which that represents. I want to sincerely thank the Gallery’s Director Dr Caroline Campbell and Chair Adrian Carroll and Minister Patrick O’Donovan for their work on the acquisition and unveiling.”

Patrick O’Donovan TD, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport said: “I wish to congratulate the National Gallery of Ireland on the important acquisition Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park, by Jack B. Yeats, a very significant work by one of Ireland’s most celebrated artists. In addition to the artistic quality of the painting, it is also an important historical record, reflecting the very raw sense of grief which would have been experienced in Ireland for those who were lost on Bloody Sunday 1920. Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park is also a testament to the key contribution of the GAA in forging Ireland’s national identity, and the importance of Croke Park in both a sporting and historical context.”

The Minister continued: “I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the National Gallery of Ireland on welcoming over 1 million visitors in 2024. This is the second year in a row that the Gallery has achieved this milestone and demonstrates the Gallery’s importance to visitors from near and far.”

Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, added: “Jack Butler Yeats is a profoundly influential artist, both in Ireland and internationally. Acquiring Singing ‘The Dark Rosaleen’, Croke Park enriches our national collection and allows us to share his remarkable legacy with all our visitors. I am delighted to unveil such a significant work, and I sincerely thank the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport for their support, as well as the private donor for their generous contribution. The painting is now on display in the Gallery’s Irish Rooms for everyone to enjoy.”

Jack B. Yeats hailed from an extraordinarily creative family. His father, John Butler Yeats, was a gifted portrait painter, his sisters, Lily and Lolly, were accomplished artists, and his brother, W.B. Yeats, was a poet of global renown. After establishing himself as an illustrator and watercolourist during his early career in England, Yeats returned to Ireland in his late thirties, settling permanently and making a decisive shift to oil painting. He worked prolifically, completing more than 1,200 paintings, most of them in the final 15 years of his life, capturing urban and rural subjects with remarkable emotional depth.