Hugh Lane
Sir Hugh Percy Lane (
November 9,
1875 â€"
May 7,
1915). Born in
County Cork,
Ireland, he is best known for establishing
Dublin's
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (the first known public gallery of
modern art in the world) and for his remarkable contribution to the
visual arts in Ireland.
Lane was brought up in
Cornwall,
England, and began his career as an apprentice painting restorer and later became a successful art
dealer in
London.
Through regular visits to Coole (near
Gort),
County Galway, the home of his aunt,
Lady Gregory, Lane remained in contact with
Ireland. He soon counted among his family, friends and social circle those who collectively formed the core of the Irish cultural
renaissance in the early decades of the 20th century.
Extolling the cause of Irish art abroad, Lane also became one of the foremost collectors of
Impressionist paintings in Ireland, and amongst those outstanding works purchased by him for the new gallery were
La Musique aux Tuileries by
Manet,
Sur la Plage by
Degas,
Les Parapluies by
Renoir and
La Cheminée by
Vuillard.
The
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art opened in January 1908 in temporary premises in Harcourt Street, Dublin. However, Lane did not live to see his
gallery permanently located as he died in 1915 on board the
RMS Lusitania, off the west coast of
Cork, the county of his birth.
