Image: Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin ; the artist 2
More than 70 works by Irish artist Una Sealy will go on view at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin this autumn in ‘Time Lines: Selected Works 2016–2026’. The exhibition, which spans the past decade and includes a selection of new, previously unseen paintings, will run from 11 September to 20 December 2026 at the RHA Gallery, 15 Ely Place.
Sealy’s paintings are rooted in place, particularly in North Dublin, where she is based. The exhibition follows her attention across locations including the northern Liffey docks and the coastal village of Howth, moving between built and natural environments and recording what the RHA describes as the distinctive character of familiar places and the traces of lives lived within them.
Donegal also occupies an important place in the selection. The county is linked to Sealy’s childhood holidays at a family cottage, while smaller works made during travel abroad extend her exploration of place beyond Ireland. Across the paintings, landscape is presented alongside the human activity and memory associated with it, rather than as an isolated subject.
Portraits of friends and family form a recurring strand in the exhibition, as do interiors animated by people passing through. The works attend to people coming and going, moments observed and remembered, and the passage of lives lived and lost. The exhibition’s stated focus on time and place brings these portraits, domestic scenes and landscapes together across the ten-year span.
Sealy is an elected full Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts. The RHA identifies her as a leading Irish artist whose practice focuses on contemporary domestic life, portraits and landscapes, including the ways people affect their environments and are affected by them. She has held 11 solo exhibitions and has been included in curated exhibitions in Ireland and abroad.
Her professional record includes the 2011 Irish Arts Review prize for Outstanding Portraiture, selection as a finalist for the Hennessy Portrait Award at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2014, and the Adam’s Award for the Artist with the Most Potential for Future Appreciation at the RHA Annual Exhibition in 2015. In 2019, she was among 10 artists selected to exhibit in China as part of events marking 40 years of Ireland–China diplomatic relations. She has also received commissions for major portraits held in public collections including Waterford County Council, Dublin City University and the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Alongside her work as an artist, Sealy is the inaugural Professor of Art at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and tutors painting, drawing and anatomy at the RHA School. ‘Time Lines: Selected Works 2016–2026’ will be free to visit. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm, on Sundays from noon to 5pm, and until 7pm on Wednesdays; it is closed on Mondays.
