A Connemara Village (1934)

• Oil on Canvas

• 76cm x 91cm

• 24in x 28in

The painting itself• The painting portrays a

typical scene in the west of Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s

• The cluster of diminutive whitewashed cottages picked out by sunlight against a backdrop of mountains

• An impressive sky is a motif that recurs in the landscape painting of Paul Henry from the early 1920s onwards

The painting itself• These cottages emphasise

the grandeur of the local scenery

• Simultaneously the painting points to the isolation of the rural communities and their reliance on the land

• The turf stacks in the foreground serve as further evidence of the integral link between the people and their surroundings

The painting itself• Free and spontaneous

brushstrokes

• Simple brushstrokes

• A wonderful array of colours

• Colours are crisp and clear

• ‘Full-breasted’ cloud

• Heavy cumulus sky takes up two-thirds of the painting

• The light is focussed on the cottages at the centre of the painting

The setting• The view

eastwards from the quay on the Clifden road just over a kilometre west of Letterfrack, Co. Galway

• The mountain in the background is ‘Doughruagh’

Assessment• Pat Shortt discusses Paul Henry's masterpiece -

YouTube• Typical of Paul Henry’s work in the 1930s• Unusually large for a Paul Henry Landscape• Regarded as one of Paul Henry’s finest works

when he was at the height of his career• Purchased by the National Gallery in 2004 for

GB£295,250